NFT News by Thebittimes.Com

Bitcoin is struggling to sustain above $38,000, but the bulls have not given up much ground, which some analysts say increases the chance of a rally to $40,000. Bitcoin (BTC) is trying to sustain above the overhead resistance of $38,000 for the second consecutive day and start the next leg of the uptrend. The excitement among market observers may have increased after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed its decision on the applications of Franklin Templeton and Hashdex exchange-traded funds. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart speculated in a X (formerly Twitter) post that the SEC may have taken this step “to line every applicant up for potential approval by the Jan. 10, 2024 deadline.” While many analysts believe that the ETF listing will be a watershed moment for Bitcoin, Genesis Trading head of derivatives Joshua Lim cautioned in a X post that traditional finance investors have already bought the rumor and may exit the trade close to the ETF announcem...

A crypto exchange is celebrating its sixth anniversary in style by announcing a high-profile collaboration with a footballing great. CoinW, a major cryptocurrency exchange, has announced a new partnership with Andrea Pirlo, a renowned soccer player. There are plenty of similarities between the worlds of sports and crypto. Both have passionate supporters and vibrant communities — striving to achieve excellence. Each industry takes pride in innovation, doing things differently, and achieving ambitious milestones. Because of this, it’s little wonder that these two worlds have become entwined — with crypto firms serving as high-profile sponsors in major sporting events. From the Super Bowl to Formula 1 and the Premier League to UFC, the logos of major trading platforms are emblazoned on arenas, kits and fan tokens. But this does little to communicate the values and ethos of a crypto business — and introduce them to millions of new people. A trusted face, on the other hand, can be instrume...

Despite regulatory action against Binance, a surge in Ethereum network activity and the expectation of a spot ETF approval fueled a price move above $2,000. Ether (ETH) price is trading slightly higher on Nov. 23, maintaining support above the $2,000 level after briefly retesting $1,930 on Nov. 21. Over the past week, Ether's price has increased by 2.5%, while the total market capitalization has grown by 0.5%. This uptrend can be attributed to improved decentralized applications (DApps) metrics, increased protocol fees, and Ethereum's dominance in the non-fungible token (NFT) market. To assess whether Ether can sustain its $2,000 price point, one must consider the repercussions of Binance's recent regulatory challenges following its plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ). Investor fear drops as Ethereum network conditions improve Binance leads in Ether spot trading volume, accounting for 30% of ETH futures contracts' open interest. The closure of Binan...

According to the bank, potential cryptocurrency investors usually make an average of three payments before recognizing they’ve fallen victim to a scam. One of the Big Four banks in the U.K., Lloyds Bank, has said that reports of cryptocurrency investment scams by victims have surged by 23% in the current year compared to the same period in 2022. According to a press release published by Lloyds Bank, an increasing number of investors face the threat of falling victim to fraudulent schemes through a wave of fake adverts posted on social media. Each victim of a crypto currency investment scam is losing an average of $13,115 (£10,741), an increase from $8,562 (£7,010) the previous year. This surpasses losses from other consumer frauds like romance scams or purchase scams . Screenshot of the report from Lloyds Bank                Source: Lloyds Bank According to the report, individuals aged 25 to 34 constitute a quarter of all crypto scam victims, making it the most prevalent age group a...

The company cited that it will cease operations of its exchange services as part of the shareholders' decision to restructure the business to focus on Cashlink. Nigerian social payment s app, Bundle announced on July 20 that it is shutting down its crypto exchange arm.  According to a statement released on the company blog, explaining that it is ceasing its crypto exchange operations as it focuses on expanding the services of Cashlink as a payment solution. Bundle stated that it will cease operations of its exchange services as part of the shareholders' decision to restructure the business to focus on Cashlink. Screenshot of Bundle press release statement. Source: Bundle In the statement, the company cited that this decision by its shareholders is a result of the observed growth of the Web3 and blockchain community and hence the need to focus on payment solutions that meet the ecosystem's needs. In the company’s press release, it confirmed that users won’t be able to si...

The group sent a detailed letter to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee accusing the crypto market of seeking favorable legislation under the guise of crypto innovation. An alliance of industry watchdogs based in the United States has united to express opposition to a proposed draft bill on the crypto market structure by the United States House Financial Services Committee. In detailed correspondence addressed to the committee, groups, including Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending, claimed that stakeholders in the crypto industry had actively lobbied in support of the committee’s draft proposal, known as the Digital Asset Market Structure Discussion Draft bill. The watchdogs asserted that the crypto industry failed to demonstrate any practical use cases beyond speculative investment. The letter accused the crypto market of seeking favorable legislation under the guise of crypto innovation: “Of particular concern is the proposed bill’s provi...

CoinShares’ latest weekly inflow report shows a substantial increase in investor appetite for digital asset investment products with Bitcoin leading the rally. A recent surge in activity surrounding exchange-traded funds has led to the largest weekly inflow for digital asset investment products since July 2022, according to a June 26 report via CoinShares. Totalling $199 million, inflows for the week of 19–23 June turned around a nine-week string of consecutive outflows, with Bitcoin (BTC) representing the lion’s share at $187 million (94% of overall inflows). This week in Fund Flows, by @jbutterfill: A sharp shift to bullishness among investors, injecting US$199m in digital asset investment products. This marks the largest single weekly inflow since July ’22, correcting almost half of 9 consecutive weeks of outflows. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/TvZ0EM2KLU — CoinShares (@CoinSharesCo) June 26, 2023 CoinShares analysts attributed the reversal to increasing activity from exchang...

ToolsGPT marries ByBit’s market data with ChatGPT’s AI to generate technical analysis, price data and trading metrics. Cryptocurrency exchange ByBit will look to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to provide a host of new trading tools and metrics for users through an integration with ChatGPT. OpenAI’s highly acclaimed large language model chatbot has been used by a myriad of industries to provide innovative solutions and services. The cryptocurrency trading space could stand to benefit from the service as ByBit unveils its own AI-powered offering to cryptocurrency traders using the Dubai-based exchange. ByBit’s ToolsGPT combines ChatGPT’s machine learning technology with the exchange’s market data to provide technical Analysis , price data and metrics. The integration also allows ToolsGPT to generate bespoke answers to traders’ inquiries. The exchange touts the new offering to provide insights and predictions to various cryptocurrency trading scenarios. ToolsGPT will be able to...

The crypto market corrected on news of the CFTC suing Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao, but technical charts reveal a silver lining. The news and events related to the banking crisis in the United States and Europe have led to a rotation of funds into investments considered less risky. According to the Financial Times, the U.S. money market funds in March witnessed an inflow of $286 billion.  Along with money market funds, a portion of the money may also have seeped into the crypto industry. The increased demand could be one of the reasons for Bitcoin’s (BTC) strong performance in March. The big question in crypto investors’ minds is whether the recovery will continue or if it is time to book profits in Bitcoin. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Bitcoin hodlers seem to be confident in the long-term story and are not getting lured into selling their holdings after the recent rally. According to Glassnode data, the percent of Bitcoin supply that has remained do...

The February U.S. jobs report was a mixed bag, which seems to have provoked interest from a few bulls in BTC and altcoins. Bitcoin (BTC) led a sharp sell-off in the cryptocurrency Markets on March 9 as the woes at Silvergate Bank and Silicon Valley Bank dented investor sentiment.  In addition, crypto-specific news of a suit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Cryptocurrency Exchange KuCoin for selling securities and commodities without registration increased uncertainty about the future of crypto sector regulation. The selling momentum continued on March 10 and pulled Bitcoin below the $20,000 mark. Several other cryptocurrencies have also broken below their important support levels. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 But a minor positive in favor of the bulls is that February’s jobs report was a mixed bag. Although nonfarm payrolls rose 311,000 for the month, above estimates of an increase of 225,000, the average earnings rose less than ant...

Arbitrum is making moves to become the hub of decentralized derivatives trading and DeFi activity within the layer-2 space. The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi applications on the Arbitrum, a layer-2 Ethereum network blockchain, has doubled since the start of 2023. While investors’ hope of an ARBI token airdrop is a major factor attracting activity to the Ethereum layer-1 network, the ecosystem’s DeFi growth is also showing robust growth.  Arbitrum has become a major hub for decentralized derivatives trading and offers high yields for crypto yield hunters, reminiscent of wild west DeFi days of 2020. GMX and Gains Network takeover decentralized derivatives trading GMX is the leading DApp on Aribitrum, which comprises 25% of the network’s total TVL. The perpetual swap trading platform pits traders and liquidity providers against one another. The liquidity providers own GLP tokens, an index of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins that act as trader counterparties. Meanwhile, stakers of GMX ...

After the SEC’s crack-down on Kraken, Coinbase’s legal head outlined the differences between Kraken’s staking product and its own. The staking services offered by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase are “fundamentally different” to what was offered by its peer exchange Kraken — which recently came under fire from the United States securities regulator — according to Coinbase's head lawyer. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, made the comments in his response to a shareholder question regarding its staking services during a Q&A session on the exchange’s fourth-quarter results, noting: “The staking products that we offer on Coinbase are fundamentally different from the yield products that were described in the reinforcement action against Kraken. The differences matter.” The first point of difference Grewal highlighted was that Coinbase users retain ownership of their cryptocurrencies at all times. In its user agreement last updated Dec. 15, 2022, Coinbase states that it m...

Solana’s usage data and ecosystem development do not support the recent bullish rally, raising the probability of a SOL price correction. Solana’s (SOL) recent 250% rally to $25 has shocked many investors in the crypto market. At the same time, traders who had eyes on the negative funding rate for SOL in the futures market could have anticipated the bullish move ahead of others. It’s because excessive negative funding rates, like the one in Solana displayed below, implies that the majority of traders are on the short side, providing an opportunity for buyers to run their stops. SOL funding rate for perpetual swaps. Source: Coinglass Regardless of the reason behind the price increase, if enough buyers are interested in joining the bullish move, it can turn into a medium-to-long-term bullish trend. However, Solana's fundamental and market analysis shows weakness, which will more likely cause a steep correction in the altcoin. Solana finds a worthy competitor in NFT space Solana rank...