Tag: bitcoin

BTC, ETH Show No Price Improvements Despite Most Altcoins Seeing Gains

The top two cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ether, have not been able to show any significant price improvements, at least for over a week. Bitcoin on Friday slipped minorly by 0.09 percent to open trade at $16,823 (roughly Rs. 13.9 lakh). The first ever cryptocurrency, followed a similar market movement on international exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and CoinMarketCap to trade at the same price point. In the last 24 hours, BTC values have dipped by $30 (roughly Rs. 2,484) from its last day’s price point of $16,853 (roughly Rs. 13.9 lakh).

Ether, unlike Bitcoin opened with small gains. At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $1,221 (roughly Rs. 1.01 lakh) with a mini profit of 0.75 percent, as per Gadgets 360’s crypto price tracker.

Overall, the crypto price charts reflected more greens than reds today.

Among profit-minting tokens, USD Coin, Binance USD, Ripple, Cardano, Polygon, and Polkadot — made a mark.

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu also saw gains of 5.57 percent and 0.71 percent respectively.

The global crypto market grew by 0.21 percent in the last 24 hours.

As per CoinMarketCap, the global crypto market valuation stands at $812.52 billion (roughly Rs. 67,28,912 crore).

“The main reason behind the market’s weakness is the commentary coming in from both the Fed and the ECB, with suggestions that inflation has become more ‘entrenched’ in the economy and would require sustained periods of higher interest rates to be dispelled. This is bearish for ‘risk-on’ assets in general, and global equities continued to sink during the week,” Parth Chaturvedi, Crypto Ecosystem Lead, CoinSwitch told Gadgets 360.

Today, Tether, Binance Coin, Solana, Wrapped Bitcoin, Monero, and Bitcoin Cash, opened with losses.

Experts have also pointed out that the risks continue to hover over the financial markets amid Ukraine’s worsening war situation being the biggest threat to commodity and energy supply chains as well as a surge in COVID-19 cases in China, adding more uncertainties.

“In the altcoin universe, Binance’s BNB token continued to be under selling pressure (down 8 percent) as rumour mills continued to shill the idea of massive withdrawals from the platform. Another major drawdown was witnessed in Filecoin (FIL), which was down 30 percent as massive short positions were built in the token. Closer home, CRE8, an Indian Rupee denominated Virtual Digital Asset (crypto) index was down 6.3 percent in the past seven days,”’ Chaturvedi added.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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Private Cryptocurrencies’ Growth Can Precipitate Next Financial Crisis: RBI Governor

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday warned that allowing private cryptocurrencies to grow can precipitate the next financial crisis.

Speaking at the BFSI Insight Summit in Mumbai, Das also said the government and the central bank have been working in a coordinated manner to tame inflation and the Centre is “equally serious” about curbing price rise.

On private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Das reiterated the RBI’s demand for a complete ban, saying such instruments do not have any underlying value and are speculative in nature.

“It’s a 100 percent speculative activity, and I would still hold the view that it should be prohibited. If you try to regulate it and allow it to grow, please mark my words, the next financial crisis will come from private cryptocurrencies,” he said.

“Cryptocurrencies have huge inherent risks from macroeconomic and financial stability (perspective) and we have been pointing it out,” he added.

The RBI governor further said the developments over the last one year, which include the latest crash of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which has been termed as one of the biggest financial frauds in the history of the US, illustrate the threat posed by such instruments.

“After all these, I don’t think we need to say anything more about our stand,” Das remarked, adding that private cryptocurrencies’ valuation has shrunk and there is no underlying value for the market-determined price.

On the central bank digital currency (CBDC), Das said such fiat digital money is the future and central bank efforts are not motivated by a fear of missing out on the action created by the private cryptocurrencies.

He said the Indian CBDC pilot is different from having a UPI wallet, and added that it has certain unique features like the ability to return the money in 24 hours as well.

Meanwhile, in remarks on inflation, Das said the RBI’s measures like rate hikes and liquidity actions have been complemented by government’s steps on the supply side.

“I must say that to check inflation, there has been a very coordinated approach between the central bank and the central government,” Das said.

“Government also is equally serious about controlling inflation… everyone is interested in bringing down inflation and I am sure the government also will be equally keen that inflation is brought down,” he added.

The governor also said this government’s last full Budget before the general election in 2024 will not have any bearing on the conduct of the monetary policy.

 

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Bitcoin, Ether Prices Dip as Shiba Inu, Stablecoins Record Profits

Bitcoin registered a loss of 1.50 percent on national and international exchanges on Friday, and the oldest cryptocurrency was trading at the price point of $17,406 (roughly Rs. 14.4 lakh). BTC, in the last 24 hours, has effectively lost up to $328 (roughly Rs. 27,168) to trade at current prices. The cryptocurrency, so far in the last two months, has not been managed to trade above the level of $18,000 (roughly Rs. 14.90 lakh). More losses than gains were recorded on the crypto price charts, as the market opened for trade amid fluctuations on Friday.

Ether moved in alignment with Bitcoin and met with price dips. With a loss of 1.50 percent, ETH is trading at $1,270 (roughly Rs. 1.05 lakh), as per the crypto price tracker by Gadgets 360.

Most altcoins recorded minor price dips on Friday. These include Binance Coin, Cardano, Polygon, Litecoin, Solana, Tron, Uniswap, and Avalanche.

Interestingly, Shiba Inu minted profits and surpassed its rival Dogecoin that saw its price fall.

Shiba Inu was joined by a several stablecoins on the profit-making side of the crypto price charts. Tether, USD Coin, and Binance USD reeled in gains on Friday.

Polkadot, Monero, Bitcoin SV, Zcash, and Neo Coin also bagged small but significant profits.

“Binance’s BNB token came under selling pressure (down 7 percent) as rumour mills continued to shill the idea of massive withdrawals from the platform. Meanwhile, OkX’s OKB token was a gainer in Binance’s loss (up 9 percent), as it’s one of the few remaining large crypto exchanges. One of the top gainers for the week was Telegram’s TON (up ~30 percent last week) after their founder announced plans to launch a wallet and DEX,” Parth Chaturvedi, Crypto Ecosystem Lead, CoinSwitch told Gadgets 360.

The overall crypto market fell by 1.30 percent in the last 24 hours. At present, the total market valuation stands at $850 billion as per CoinMarketCap.

“Closer home, CRE8, an Indian Rupee denominated Virtual Digital Asset (crypto) index was down 2.1 percent in the past seven days. The Index value stood at Rs. 2,363.51 at 8 AM, December 16, 2022. BTC and ETH continue to be the top assets by market capitalisation,” Chaturvedi noted.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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Bitcoin, Ether Record Losses as Overall Crypto Market Valuation Slips by 1.12 Percent

One day after majority cryptocurrencies recorded profits and the crypto market valuation rose by over three percent, the price charts for cryptocurrencies was hit by volatility once again. Bitcoin on Thursday, opened with a loss of nearly one percent. At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $17,716 (roughly Rs. 14.6 lakh). The world’s most popular cryptocurrency also saw tiny price dips on international exchanges. As per Binance and CoinMarketCap, BTC is trading at the price point of $17,734 (roughly Rs. 14.4 lakh).

Ether recorded slightly bigger losses than Bitcoin. With a drop of 2.35 percent, ETH is now trading at $1,291 (roughly Rs. 1.06 lakh), showed the crypto price tracker by Gadgets 360.

Along with altcoins, stablecoins pegged against the US dollar also settled with losses.

Tether, USD Coin, Binance Coin, Ripple, Cardano, Polygon, Polkadot, and Litecoin — all witnessed price dips.

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu also broke out of their gain-spell to see their value fall on Thursday.

The overall crypto market valuation slipped by 1.12 percent in the last 24 hours. The current crypto market cap stands at $861.07 billion, as per CoinMarketCap.

These include Solana, Tron, Zcash, and Flex.

After the collapse of crypto exchange FTX exchange, a large part of the global investor community has pulled back from the crypto sector.

A recent report, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) explains why the crypto market cap has not managed to show any recovery. The OECD has said that institutional investors were quicker to leave the crypto market amid the slump, as compared to retail investors.

Last year around the holiday season in December, the crypto market recorded profits as more people indulged in gifting crypto presents, especially in the US. This year, the holiday spirit has not yet managed to achieve the same effect on the crypto sector.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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El Salvador Moves Closer Towards Raising $1 Billion Through First Bitcoin Volcano Bonds

El Salvador appears to be a step closer to issuing its Bitcoin Bond as President Nayib Bukele’s administration has released a digital securities bill for the bond to lawmakers. The island nation also plans to legalise all crypto assets under the new law. The Bitcoin Volcano Bond aims to draw capital and investors to El Salvador. The nation intends to issue $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,118 crore) in bonds on the Liquid Network, a federated Bitcoin sidechain. The proceeds of the bonds will be distributed between a $500 million (roughly Rs. 4,060 crore) direct investment in BTC and a $500 million investment in the development of local energy and BTC mining infrastructure.

A copy of the 33-page-long document first reported by Bloomberg, was released on Tuesday by a spokesperson for the president’s office. The bill requests a digital assets commission and Bitcoin Fund Management Agency to oversee crypto-related debt sales.

It is worth recalling that the issuance of the Bitcoin Bond was delayed in August (via Fortune). At the time Paolo Ardoino, the CTO of crypto trading platform Bitfinex, the official exchange of the bond, said that the offering would be delayed until late 2022.

The recent development shows that El Salvador is closer to issuing the bonds, despite critics’ belief that such is unlikely to happen.

Upon issuance, interested parties can invest as low as $100 (roughly Rs. 8,118). The Bitcoin Bond will be issued to raise $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,118 crore) to finance the development of the nation’s income tax-free Bitcoin City, which would use geothermal energy from a nearby volcano for mining crypto assets.

The $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,118 crore) raised would be split into two parts — $500 million (roughly Rs. 4,060 crore) for financing infrastructure in the Bitcoin City and the other half for purchasing additional Bitcoin, with profit from the appreciation of the digital asset shared with bondholders.

El Salvador currently has over 2,300 BTC reserves, and the country recently vowed to purchase 1 BTC daily amid the bear market.

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FTX Files US Bankruptcy Proceedings, Sam Bankman-Fried Steps Down as CEO

Crypto exchange FTX filed US bankruptcy proceedings on Friday and Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO, after a rapid liquidity crisis at the cryptocurrency group that has prompted intervention from regulators around the world.

The distressed crypto trading platform had been struggling to raise billions in funds to stave off collapse after traders rushed to withdraw $6 billion (nearly Rs. 48,320 crore) from the platform in just 72 hours and rival exchange Binance abandoned a proposed rescue deal.

The company said in a statement shared on Twitter on Friday that FTX, its affiliated crypto trading fund Alameda Research and approximately 130 other companies have commenced voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware.

John J Ray III has been appointed to take over as CEO from Bankman-Fried, the statement said.

“I’m really sorry, again, that we ended up here,” said FTX founder Bankman-Fried, in a series of tweets after the commencement of the bankruptcy filing.

In his tweets, Bankman-Fried said the bankruptcy filing “doesn’t necessarily have to mean the end for the companies” and that he was “optimistic” the group’s new CEO would “help provide whatever is best”.

In its bankruptcy petition, FTX Trading said that it has $10 billion (nearly Rs. 80,530 crore) to $50 billion (nearly Rs. 4,02,660 crore) in assets, $10 (nearly Rs. 800) to $50 billion in liabilities, and more than 100,000 creditors.

The week’s turmoil hit already-struggling cryptocurrency markets, sending bitcoin to two-year lows.

FTX was scrambling to raise about $9.4 billion (nearly Rs. 75,740 crore) from investors and rivals, Reuters reported citing sources, as the exchange sought to save itself after customer withdrawals.

“The Chapter 11 filing is a necessary step to allow the company to assess the situation and develop plans to move forward for the benefit of stakeholders,” Ray said in a Slack memo to FTX staff seen by Reuters.

“I realise that the recent news of the situation has been troubling and stressful, but I also know that the bankruptcy filing will be the beginning of a path forward.”

Some investors, including Sequoia and SoftBank, had already marked FTX investments to zero. SkyBridge Capital is working to buy back its FTX stake, the alternative investment firm’s founder Anthony Scaramucci said in an interview with CNBC on Friday.

Regulatory Scrutiny

These events mark a rapid reversal for Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old crypto executive, whose wealth was estimated by Forbes at around $17 billion (nearly Rs. 1,36,850 crore) just two months ago.

Bitcoin dropped after FTX’s announcement, down 3.9 percent on the day at $16,816 (nearly Rs. 13 lakh) by 1603 GMT (09:33 pm IST).

Shares of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related firms also dropped on the news.

FTX’s token FTT plunged 30 percent on Friday, facing an 88 percent weekly loss.

As FTX’s troubles mounted regulators around the world stepped in.

FTX is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Justice Department, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to a source familiar with the investigations.

Cyprus’s Securities and Exchange Commission has asked FTX EU to suspend its operations on November 9, the regulator said on Friday.

Bankman-Fried did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

“Once Binance walked away from buying FTX after only 24 hours of due diligence the writing was on the wall for FTX,” said Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of crypto lender Nexo.

“Now we enter the next phase of the fallout, where we witness the second order effects and discover which entities were exposed to FTX and Alameda.”

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Bitcoin Payments Being Accepted at Subway Outlets in Berlin via the Lightning Network

Subway, the largest franchise in the world by number of outlets, is reportedly tapping into the huge global Bitcoin fanbase by recognising it as a payment option. In this case, the fast-food restaurant chain is using the Bitcoin lightning network. Technically, the lightning network is a second layer added to Bitcoin’s blockchain to enable off-chain transactions. As of now, trials have begun for Bitcoin payment in three Subway outlets in Germany’s capital city of Berlin. Subway first experimented with Bitcoin almost 13 years ago in Moscow, Russia.

As per a CoinTelegragh report, the Berlin Subway franchise owner Daniel Hinze observed 120 Bitcoin transactions in the past few months. It can be recalled that Bitcoin was first experimented with by Subway in Moscow, Russia, about 13 years ago. Hinze disclosed that he desires to see digital assets become a medium of exchange.

“Five years ago, I started to deal with cryptocurrencies; and in the last two years, I have dealt very intensively with the topic of Bitcoin. With that in mind, I’ve decided that [Bitcoin] could be the better money system,” said Hinze.

To encourage this initiative, users who make payments in BTC on all footlongs, and meatball marinaras would get a 10 percent discount. In addition, Hinze has offered a 50 percent discount on all payments for a week.

“Around the week, there was, of course, extremely high demand. Our three restaurants were frequently visited by people who liked to pay with Bitcoin.”

A partnership was sealed with a Bitcoin company based in Switzerland, Lipa, to enable an easy-to-use point-of-sale solution. This is said to have been highly patronised by enthusiasts with hashtag #usingBitcoin taking over german-speaking social media.

According to Bastien Feder, CEO of Lipa, Bitcoin is a currency and their mission is to make sure that it becomes irresistible to use. Lipa installed merchant devices at Subway outlets that allow customers to scan QR codes to enable fast payment at a cheaper cost. It is reported that merchants pay only a 1 percent charge for the service.

“It’s 2.5 percent to 4 percent depending on the contract from the merchant. If it’s a business card, there’s 0.5 percent on top of that. […] And if it’s a foreign business credit card, you pay up to 7 percent, and you don’t know until the end of the month,” explained Feder.

Feder added that there has been an exponential increase in the Bitcoin community in Germany, Switzerland, and other parts of the world. It is believed that the experience of paying over the Lightning network is completely different from when subway franchises first accepted Bitcoin payments in 2014 when customers had to wait for several minutes for payment to be processed.

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Mastercard CEO Bats for Crypto Laws, Says Long Way to Go for Crypto to Become Mainstream

Mastercard Michael Miebach has predicted that widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies is a long way away from becoming a reality. While maintaining an optimistic attitude towards the asset class gaining more popularity in the future, Miebach said that the formulation of apt laws is needed as soon as possible. The Mastercard chief executive is a Bitcoin supporter and aims to speed things up to the time where BTC is used as a regular payment option.

In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, Miebach claimed that an increasing number of investors are showing enthusiasm to experiment with crypto assets. 

“I think these things need to click in, and then you have the building blocks for it to become mainstream. I think it’s a long way to go before crypto becomes mainstream,” the Mastercard honcho was quoted as saying.

Founded in November 1966, Mastercard today provides financial services to millions of people worldwide.

Keeping up with the newer generation of customers, the card services provider is now expanding into the crypto sector.

Last month, Mastercard teamed up with blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos on a programme designed to help banks and fintech companies offer their customers crypto trading services.

In addition, the company has launched a new tool called ‘Crypto Secure’ that is intended to help banks and financial institutions detect as well as prevent fraudulent activities associated with virtual digital assets.

Meanwhile, Mastercard CFO Sachin Mehra does not concur with his colleague. Mehra believes that cryptocurrencies are too volatile in nature to be a dependable payment instrument.

“If something fluctuates in value every day, such that your Starbucks coffee today costs you $3 (roughly Rs. 240) and tomorrow it’s going to cost you $9 (roughly Rs. 715), and the day after it’s going to cost you a dollar, that’s a problem from a consumer-mindset standpoint,” the CFO was quoted as saying in an interview in August.

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Over 50,000 BTC Worth Over $1 Billion Recovered from Silk Road Darknet Debacle

The US authorities have declared one of their largest ever crypto recoveries after they managed to unearth 50,676 Bitcoins related to the infamous dark-web marketplace, Silk Road. The amount of the recovered Bitcoin comes close to the valuation of $1.04 billion (roughly Rs. 8,228 crore) at the time of writing. The details were confirmed by Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Silk Road, the online marketplace launched on the dart net was launched in 2011 by Ross Ulbricht, who is currently serving his jail time.

The Bitcoin recovery was made from an address in Georgia connected with James Zhong. Precious metals and a cash amount of $661,900 (roughly Rs. 5 crore) were among other items that were seized from Zhong’s possessions.

“In September 2012, Zhong executed a scheme to defraud Silk Road of its money and property by creating a string of approx. nine Silk Road accounts in a manner designed to conceal his identity, triggering over 140 transactions in rapid succession to trick Silk Road’s withdrawal-processing system into releasing approximately 50,000 Bitcoin from its Bitcoin-based payment system into Zhong’s accounts,” a report by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) wrote in a post.

Zhong later transferred the Bitcoins into a variety of separate addresses also under his control.

The accused has pleaded guilty to committing this wire fraud in 2012.

“Thanks to state-of-the-art cryptocurrency tracing and good old-fashioned police work, law enforcement located and recovered this impressive cache of crime proceeds. This case shows that we won’t stop following the money, no matter how expertly hidden,” the post by the DoJ added.

At the time of its launch in 2011, the Silk Road marketplace allowed the purchase of anything including banned substances via Bitcoin.

Its jailed creator Ulbricht has been auctioning some of his artwork from the prison as NFTs to fund his legal processes.

Ulbricht has remained in prison since October 2015 when he was sentenced to two life terms.

Meanwhile, the US authorities are taking measures to ensure crypto activities do not become a safe tool to commit financial crimes by fraudsters.

In February this year, the DoJ tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team.

At the time, the US authorities had charged a married New York couple with allegedly laundering Bitcoins that at the time were valued at over $4.5 billion (roughly Rs. 33,750 crore). These were stolen in the 2016 hack of the digital currency exchange Bitfinex.

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Bitcoin, Most Cryptocurrencies Register Losses, Total Sector Valuation Also Drops

The festive cheer has failed to penetrate the crypto market as majority cryptocurrencies opened with losses on Friday, October 21. Less than three days before Diwali, Bitcoin opened with a loss of 1.01 percent in India. As per Gadgets 360’s crypto price tracker, BTC values currently stands at the price point of $19,063 (roughly Rs. 15.77 lakh) in India. Even on international exchanges, BTC could not manage to bring in profits. As reflected by Binance and CoinMarketCap, BTC values are hovering around the mark of $19,076 (roughly Rs. 15.78 lakh) with a loss of 0.30 percent.

Ether values also slipped by 0.38 on Friday. As per the Gadgets 360 crypto price tracker, ETH is trading at $1,287 (roughly Rs. 1.06 lakh).

Both top two cryptocurrencies last created their respective all-time highs (ATHs) on November 9 last year. While BTC’s last ATH was around $68,000 (roughly Rs. 56 lakh), ETH’s figure was $4,700 (roughly Rs. 3.47 lakh).

As per their current market movement, the chances of BTC and ETH even coming close to their previous ATHs seems like a far-away possibility.

Meanwhile, majority cryptocurrencies tailed meekly behind BTC and ETH to register losses today.

These include Tether, USD Coin, Binance Coin, Ripple, Cardano, and Solana.

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu also witnessed dips alongside Avalanche, Litecoin, Chainlink, as well as Cosmos.

“Monitoring US’ inflation and macroeconomic variables will be key to determining capital allocation for investors and correspondingly be an indication as to when the equity markets and by extension the crypto bottom hits in case it hasn’t already, as price action is still currently highly inversely correlated with the DXY (Dollar Strength Index),” the CoinDCX research team told Gadgets 360.

In the last 24 hours, the total valuation of the crypto sector slid down by 0.58 percent.

At this point, the total market cap of the crypto industry stands at $914.43 billion (roughly Rs. 75,66,574 crore). The valuation fell from its trillion-dollar mark in September.

Only a handful of cryptocurrencies managed to see gains today. These include Tron, Bitcoin Cash, Elrond, Iota, and Dash.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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