Tag: ethereum

Crypto Santa Claus Rally This Christmas?

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

Traders often predict these two catalysts will drive crypto prices up or down in December. Is this a ‘Santa Claus rally‘ and tax loss harvesting?

The two terms are older than cryptocurrency, commonly discussed by stock traders at the end of each financial year. Just how accurate are they for making stocks or crypto price predictions?

Pentoshi On Crypto Prices Narratives

One of the most popular crypto Twitter accounts, @Pentosh1 told his followers to expect those two ‘narratives‘ in December.

Furthermore, he added Wall Street bonuses, as did many in the replies. Also not excluding the Chinese New Year as a 2023 narrative for crypto prices. Many holders around since the 2018 bear market will recall these ideas.

While he didn’t expand on that tweet thread yet this November, Pentoshi has been critical. He has been critical of this type of fundamental analysis in previous years. He says ‘just trade the charts’ and ‘what matters is the trend’.

Crypto Santa Claus Rally

Last Christmas for example, Pentoshi tweeted the image below and his comments that bad traders rely on narratives.

Investopedia explains the justification for a Santa Claus rally. It explains it as ‘general feeling of optimism and seasonal happiness on Wall Street, and the investing of holiday bonuses’.

The theory dates back to Yale Hirsch’s Stock Trader’s Almanac written in 1972. However thats not all thats happening this season of yuletide.

There is Tax harvesting. Tax loss harvesting is defined as selling assets to ‘limit the amount of taxes due on short-term capital gains. Gains which are generally taxed at a higher rate than long-term capital gains’.

Meanwhile, last December Pentoshi noted one narrative was that institutions would sell until the last business day of the month. Afterwards, the crypto markets would rally. However the Bitcoin price action was bearish at the 2021 close, with the overall macro downtrend being the deciding factor.

In July 2022 Pentoshi made an interesting prediction that more funds ‘will blow up.‘ This is the kind that focus on these type of crypto price narratives. Russian Oligarchs, Tax harvesting, etc. Most of these narratives came from the same VCs, TradFi guys. And funds that blew up or will blow up in a few months.

Bitcoin Prediction Following FTX Collapse

Earlier this month it emerged Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research were insolvent and lost $3.7 billion. The FTX exchange linked fund were previously imagined by many to be made up of expert traders and quants.

Heading into December, Bitcoin is trading sideways, stuck in a 2% range at the time of writing around $16,500.

Since hitting an all-time high of $69,000 on Binance, Bitcoin has crashed as low as $15,476. This is happening one year on. A 78% correction.

Well, here’s the  downside. Some analysts predict the $12-$14k level could be tested as support.

The 2019 high was $13,970. This was plotted on the Bitcoin price chart above, just above the 2018 yearly open of $13,715. Pentoshi is unsure if Bitcoin will see a capitulation event and crash that low.

He’s predicting more sideways accumulation, for an extended period of time – neither a Santa Claus rally nor tax loss selling. To the upside, some traders predict a bear market rally could take the Bitcoin price up. They predict that the coin will go as high as high as the 2021 lows for a bearish retest. The June 2021 monthly wick hit $28,805.

Coachella NFTs Now Stuck On FTX

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

FTX customers around the world have assets frozen on the cryptocurrency exchange. This happened after its sudden collapse last week. Apparently, this freeze is to the tune of billions of dollars’ worth in total. And it’s not just cryptocurrency or DeFi tokens either—some users have NFTs stuck in FTX, too.

NFTs Stuck In The FTX Saga

Discord servers tied to projects that launched via the FTX NFTs platform over the last year are now filling up with complaints from users who cannot withdraw their Solana-based assets from the FTX account wallet.

In some cases, even those who transferred their NFTs to external, self-custody wallets now can’t see the NFT artwork. This, however, is due to apparent FTX server issues. Links to many of the projects launched through the FTX NFTs marketplace are likewise now broken. FTX announced on Friday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Furthermore, the affected projects include major music and sports brands. This includes concert festivals Coachella and Tomorrowland, NBA star Steph Curry’s 2974 NFT collection, and Formula One-themed NFTs.

What Exactly Happened

Coachella announced its partnership with FTX US in February, and its plan to release 10 lifetime festival passe. This happened as NFTs was hailed by some as a step forward for mainstream Web3 adoption. And not to mention real-world utility for such digital assets.

The festival released various other NFT collectibles alongside the passes. Billboard, which first reported issues around the NFTs on Tuesday, made a statement. It said that the sale generated $1.5 million in total.

Now, however, users in Coachella’s Discord server are reporting that they cannot transfer their NFTs out from their FTX wallets. Others say that the Coachella NFTs held in their self-custody wallets aren’t displaying artwork. Discord moderators have said that it’s apparently due to FTX’s server being down.

“We do not currently have any lines of communication with the FTX team,” a Coachella server administrator wrote on Friday. “We have assembled an internal team to come up with solutions based on the tools we have access to. Our priority is getting Coachella NFTs off of FTX, which appears to be disabled at the moment.”

In a statement today, Coachella Innovation Lead Sam Schoonover affirmed that the festival is trying to respond for NFT holders. “We’re actively working on solutions and are confident we’ll be able to protect the interests of Coachella’s NFT holders,” he wrote.

Custodial Concerns Over FTX NFTs

Unlike many NFT marketplaces, FTX NFTs was a custodial platform which means that it held purchased NFTs for buyers. The only exception is if they opted to transfer it to an external wallet. 

Also, given that FTX’s partners were major mainstream brands, it may have served more casual buyers. Buyers that didn’t bother to transfer the assets to self-custody wallets.

On top of assets initially sold through the FTX NFTs platform, there is a change. Now, anyone trying to sell another supported NFT through the marketplace would have to give FTX custody first. 

Currently, those NFTs are stuck on the platform as the firm begins bankruptcy proceedings.

Metaplex, the creator of Solana’s NFT protocol, worked with concert festival Tomorrowland. Their job was to develop its first NFT drop on FTX NFTs earlier this year. 

Furthermore, CEO Stephen Hess said that the situation illustrates the risks involved with centralized, custodial marketplaces. Especially as users currently have no way of accessing their purchased assets on the platform.

Hess said… “We hope this serves as a wake-up call to NFT collectors and creators that escrow-based marketplaces present significant risks.”

OpenSea To Enforce NFT Royalties After Creators Backlash

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace by trading volume, announced today that it will continue to enforce creator royalties on NFTs following significant pushback from the community.

“We will continue to enforce creator fees on all existing collections,” the firm wrote in a tweet thread. “We’re awed by the passion we’ve seen from creators and collectors alike this week. We were looking for your feedback, and we heard it, loud and clear.”

OpenSea On NFT Policy

On Saturday, OpenSea said that it was reconsidering its policy towards enforcing creator royalty fees on NFTs. This was following a wave of rival marketplaces that had either rejected such fees or made them optional. Optional for traders to pay. A royalty fee is set by the NFT artist or creator. The fee typically falls between 5% and 10% of the secondary sale price.

OpenSea set a self-imposed December 8 deadline to take in community feedback and consider possible courses of action. One which it said included making creator fees optional for traders. This means that enforcing these fees will only be as regards to some types of NFT collections.

However, the potential for the market’s largest NFT platform to stop enforcing royalties did not sit well with many prominent creators. One of these creators include Bored-Ape-Yacht-Club creator, Yuga Labs who vocally pushed back against OpenSea and began organizing amongst themselves.

Furthermore, on Tuesday, noted streetwear brand The Hundreds stepped up its response by making an announcement. They announced that they had canceled a planned OpenSea NFT drop this week. “May it be a reminder to them, to you, and the world that the artists are always in control.” The above statement was given by the firm’s founders.

OpenSea Reacts

As its tweet suggests, OpenSea got the message “loud and clear” from the community. The $13.3 billion Web3 startup explained that it was “​​seeking guidance from our community,” however, that was not the case. The startups pointed to data showing that the share of market-wide creator royalty fees is tumbling. Especially in recent weeks as royalties-rejecting marketplaces gain steam.

“Unless something changes soon, this space is trending toward significantly fewer fees paid to creators,” OpenSea wrote. “No policy that we implement will reverse this trend if this behavior continues.”

OpenSea encouraged creators to create additional incentives for traders to honor royalties and point them towards marketplaces that honor them. It also pointed towards implementing additional enforcement methods.

Royalty Enforcement System

On Saturday, OpenSea announced a royalties enforcement system for newly-created NFT projects. One that is built around a blacklist that blocks listed marketplaces from handling those transactions. The method targets marketplaces that do not fully enforce royalty fees, which are among OpenSea’s biggest rivals.

Some of the NFT world’s most prominent creators are speaking out in defense of royalties this week. This started after OpenSea said it is considering changes to its enforcement including potentially making them optional for traders. Now one brand has taken things a step further by canceling an Ethereum NFT drop planned this week.

Finally, Bobby “Bobby Hundreds” Kim tweeted on Tuesday night. He said that his streetwear brand The Hundreds will not launch its Badam Bomb Squad on OpenSea this week. This is due to the company’s unclear communication around its creator royalties stance.

“We were waiting to see if OpenSea would take a stand to preserve creator royalties for existing collections. This is especially after they’d heard from the artists, founders, and NFT community.” The above statement was tweeted by the brand. “Unfortunately, that announcement has not arrived in time.”

TinyTap’s First NFTs Is Sold Out

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

Animoca Brands is the company advancing digital property rights for gaming and the open metaverse. The company’s subsidiary, TinyTap is the leading platform for user-generated educational games. Today TinyTap announced that the first batch of six TinyTap Publisher NFTs sold at auction for a total of 138.926 ETH. This generated a total 67.7 ETH for the six teachers who authored the content linked to the Publisher NFTs.

How The Proceeds Are To Be Split Amongst The 6 TinyTap Teachers

Each participating teacher receives 50% of the net proceeds from the auction of the NFTs of their Courses. In addition, they also receive a 10% ongoing share of any revenue generated by such 

Courses. Furthermore, as a result of the co-publishing efforts, they also receive royalties generated by the secondary sales of the NFTs.

The successful auction marks another step toward the vision of Animoca Brands and TinyTap. One that intends  to build an alternative Web3 education system. A system that better values teachers by improving the earning opportunities available to them.

The NFT that sold for the highest amount was Learn English with Gabi , which generated 22.9 ETH for its creator. Its creator is Gabi Klaf. This amount earned is approximately 13.4x the average monthly elementary teacher’s salary in the public education system of Israel. A system where she is based.

Commenting on the sale, Gabi Klaf said: “I’ve been teaching ESL passionately for over 30 years. I thought that discovering TinyTap’s interactive game platform was my biggest teaching breakthrough. But now, I see that the Publisher NFT is my real breakthrough. I am overjoyed that my English courses will now reach thousands of children worldwide and I’m excited. Especially because I can teach a new generation of young kids! Financially, I foresee this endeavor to be highly beneficial to me.”

What Is The Goal Behind The App’s Creation

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, commented: “We designed TinyTap’s Publisher NFTs to significantly increase teachers’ earning opportunities. Especially over the current TinyTap subscription model. We also intended to free teachers from the costs and time required to promote their work. Thanks to this innovative use of NFTs, TinyTap’s teachers can choose whether to continue business as usual, or make use of Web3. That way they get to focus on what they do best – produce great content – while gaining the backing of a co-publisher.“

Yogev Shelly , CEO of TinyTap, went on to make a statement. “We’re deeply thankful for the tremendous support we have received for our new and pioneering education model. This initiative has shown that it is possible to better reward educators for the critically important work that they do. Instead of waiting for salaries to rise and for education to become more relevant, we’re using Web3 to build an incentive system. One that “will to allow communities and educators to come together to create.”

The Obvious Impact Of TinyTap

Cici Lampe, the US-based creator of the Course Learn Colors with Super Heroes, made a comment. “Five years ago, I started creating interactive games on TinyTap for my grandson in order to teach him myself using a hands-on approach. I can hardly believe one of my courses is now the face of decentralized education with TinyTap and Animoca Brands. This now brings supporters worldwide so all kids can learn with me.”

Ellen Weber , the US-based creator of the Course Nursery Rhymes & Fairy Tales , made a comment. “TinyTap has been my second income for more than five years. I always believed in TinyTap’s mission and have been inviting the teacher community to join me and create revenue generating educational games on TinyTap.”

Is Ethereum Still A Good Investment?

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

Ethereum is the largest smart contracts platform in the market. To understand how big Ethereum is, consider that most of the tokens in the market today are ERC-20 tokens.

If you have been looking to invest in Ethereum but are unsure whether it is a good investment, then you have come to the right place. Here, we will give you a detailed answer to the question, 

Ethereum Good For 2023?

To answer this question, we look at how Ethereum has performed over the years. We also give you a hint on the best cryptocurrency broker where to invest in Ethereum today.

When it comes to whether Ethereum is a good cryptocurrency investment, it is essential to consider several different factors. One of such factor is it’s performance over time, which can provide insight into how ETH may perform in the future.

However, it is also essential to look at the real-world uses of Ethereum. This will help better assess how its value may change over time. For example, the growing adoption of decentralized applications has made ETH an attractive option for various industries.

Overall, considering all of these factors together provides valuable insight. One we need to determine whether or not Ethereum is an excellent cryptocurrency to buy in 2023 or not. 

However, while there are no guarantees when it comes to investing, by doing your research and considering all potential risks and rewards, you can be better equipped to make smart investment decisions regarding ETH and other cryptocurrencies.

Also, while there are many different blockchain networks, ETH is widely regarded as one of the most advanced. It is also described as a very well-established option. Furthermore, not only does Ethereum allow for easy cryptocurrency payments, it is also perfect for developing smart contracts. That also includes distributed applications.

What About Ethereum And NFTs

The Blockchain is currently leading the way in developing smart contracts. This makes it the blockchain network of choice for top NFTs and some DeFi tokens in the market.

But with that said, is Ethereum a good cryptocurrency investment in 2023? The answer is yes. Ethereum is one of the most highly regarded and widely used blockchain platforms. Furthermore, not only is Ethereum widely adopted, but it can also adapt to the growing demand. This makes it a truly robust network that can stand the test of time.

The Merge Is A Good Thing

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s ability to adapt to growing demand is evident in the recent shift to Ethereum 2.0. This new version of the platform represents a major step forward in terms of scalability and speed. As a result, it allows more transactions per second than ever before while minimizing fees and latency.

With these enhancements, Ethereum will certainly provide an unparalleled level of utility for users worldwide well into the future. So, whether you’re trading ETH on exchanges or building blockchain applications, This blockchain network is a solid choice. Especially for anyone looking for long-term value and flexibility in their cryptocurrency portfolio.

However, before you buy a cryptocurrency, it is essential to look at its past price action. This will give you an idea of how its price moves. Consequently, you get an idea of whether it is a good investment going into the future. On this front, Ethereum is a pretty good cryptocurrency to invest in in 2023.

The current second largest cryptocurrency entered the market in July 2015, trading at $0.75. After multiple highs and lows after launch, the digital currency hit an all-time high of $1360 in January 2018. However, it collapsed in the bear market that followed. Eventually, by the end of 2018, it was trading at under $100.

Crypto Hacking: FTX Chief Share A Solution To End It

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

Over the last few months, crypto hacking has turned rampant, especially in the decentralized finance (DeFi) market. This month itself, more than $750 million have been already lost in crypto hacks as per data from Chainalysis.

Rewarding Crypto Hackers?

Crypto billionaire and FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried have recently outlined a framework to deal with this problem of crypto hacks. Interestingly, the solution proposed by SBF involves rewarding the hackers.

In his latest blog post, the FTX chief proposed a “5-5 standard” wherein the hackers get to keep 5% of the total funds stolen. Alternatively, they can also keep $5 million whichever is smaller. 

Other provisions include that the hacker acts in “good faith” and intends to cooperate on returning most of the crypto-assets.

In crypto hacking, some of the hackers are also white-hat hackers who seek to expose vulnerabilities. The hackers will do this in the protocol in return for a reward instead of making malicious gains. The SBF chief noted:

“Hacks are extremely destructive to the digital asset ecosystem. The 5-5 approach would have curbed the impact of hacks more than 98%.”

However, SBF is unsure of what would be the right standard for this process. The FTX chief also stated:

Keeping DeFi and peer to peer transfers free is crucial. There are policies I honestly think are key to achieving that. I could be wrong about those policies–I probably am wrong about some! But in the end the most important thing is to keep commerce and expression free.

As said, DeFi protocols have been the most vulnerable to hacks this year. So far in 2022, the DeFi protocols have lost a sum total of more than $4.4 billion.

FTX On Crypto Regulations

Sam Bankman-Fried also said that the U.S. arm of the crypto trading platform FTX will start conducting its own analysis. Their analysis will be on whether the crypto assets work as securities before listing them.

In the blog post, SBF said that FTX plans to use its internal framework for crypto securities. This they will do until there’s more clarity from the SEC. However, this internal framework doesn’t guarantee that FTX will be free from scrutiny by the U.S. SEC.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk Does Damage Control

The crypto market struggles due to a wide variety of macroeconomic factors. The altcoins market in particular faced a major crisis. Ethereum fell by 2% in the last 24 hours and is trading at $1281. 

Meanwhile, Cardano and Solana fell by 3% and 5% respectively. The Tesla earnings report was an important reason for the poor performance of the altcoins market.

Tesla missed its expected earnings for the third quarter and the company’s stock plummeted as a result. In the after-market, $TSLA is down by 6.25%. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk informed investors that despite strong demand in the fourth quarter, the company will miss its vehicle delivery target in 2023.

Tesla was expected to earn over $22 billion in the third quarter. However, the company revealed that its third-quarter revenue was $21.45 billion. Tesla’s gross automotive margin also missed the estimates.

Why Tesla Earnings Impacts The Altcoin Market

The crypto market is strongly correlated to the broader general market. In particular, it shows a strong correlation between technology stocks and the tech-oriented NASDAQ. As major companies miss earnings estimates, the stock market plummets. As a result, the crypto market struggles too.

Moreover, Tesla’s earnings stoke fears of a slowdown in the economy and a potential recession. The World Bank believes that the economy will face a recession in 2023. Major figures such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos believe that a recession is inevitable.

Tamadoge To Launch 1000 New NFTs Today

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

Trending NFT project Tamadoge (TAMA) has been turning heads recently following the launch of its NFT collections. 

While the October 6th release of the ultra-rare NFT collection sold out quickly, investors have another chance to acquire some Tamadoge NFTs. This is possible thanks to the October 17th release of the rare Tamadoge pet collection.

What Is Tamadoge?

Tamadoge is a new meme coin with a distinct focus on utility. In contrast to the majority of meme coins, Tamadoge is unique. Other tokens generate hype but provide little in the way of intrinsic value. However, Tamadoge blends some of the hottest sectors within cryptocurrency. They do this in order to create a diverse and value-rich ecosystem that crypto enthusiasts love.

The project allows users to explore a Metaverse world known as the Tamaverse. They do this while raising 3D-animated NFT-based pets and interacting with other players. 

Leveling up a Tamadoge pet using items from the in-game store will reward the owner with Dogepoints. Furthermore, it will also boost their leaderboard ranking and increase the share of the rewards pool. Especially to the degree to which the holder is entitled. 

The Tamadoge NFT Collections

Recently, Tamadoge launched its first NFT collection – a series of 100 ultra-rare pets with boosted stats. This collection sold out quickly, even briefly hitting the number 1 trending spot on OpenSea. 

Tamadoge has now launched its second collection, a series of 1,000 rare NFTs. 

Each Tamadoge NFT features unique artwork and is attributed various stats that will affect the pet’s performance. The most obvious way it can be affected is in the upcoming Tamdoge arcade-style and flagship games. 

Meanwhile, the current Tamadoge pet NFTs will be usable in the mini-games. Consequently, holders will also be airdropped a Tamadoge puppy once the full game is released.

Furthermore, the ultra-rare Tamadoge collection has gone from selling for roughly 1.5 to 3-ETH each to a price of 5.99-ETH. 

This happened within the space of a week and we could see huge moves for the rare and common NFTs. It’ll be interesting to see how things progress. But as it stands today, Tamadoge could be the best NFT drop in 2022. 

Big Eyes Is On The Rise

Big Eyes Coin has attracted a lot of attention since its inception. The new platform provides its users with an array of services from which they can earn and save tokens. Big Eyes Coin has adopted a unique zero-tax policy on shopping so you can save more of your BIG tokens!

The Big Eyes Coin platform is built on the Ethereum blockchain, utilising its newly updated Proof-of-Stake consensus. This is to increase its transaction speed while reducing its environmental impact. Big Eyes Coin will donate 5% of its tokens to ocean conservation efforts to protect a crucial part of our ecosystem. Not only that, but to also showcase its commitment to sustainability.

NFTs will become a big part of the Big Eyes Coin ecosystem when they launch at stage three of the roadmap. Big Eyes Coin is moving away from having NFTs as something to look at. Instead, Big Eyes Coin is bringing utility to NFTs and using them as keys to access exclusive events and clubs.

Ethereum Merge Helps NFT Transactions

Now Ethereum is a Proof-of-Stake platform, users can take advantage of its fast transaction speeds that can reach up to 100,000 per second at its peak performance. Those worried about the environmental impact of Ethereum can put their mind at ease. With the new update, Ethereum has reduced its carbon footprint by 99%.

Ethereum hosts the most popular NFT marketplace in the blockchain industry, OpenSea. Since the Merge has increased transaction speeds, OpenSea users will enjoy increased speeds with potentially lower fees.

Bitcoin And Ethereum Could Be Poised For Recovery

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

The bitcoin price has been bouncing around $20,000 per bitcoin since mid-June (despite some eye-popping bitcoin price predictions). However, ethereum has fallen sharply in the aftermath of its long-awaited, energy-saving upgrade, flying in the face of expectations.

Now, as Blackrock and Fidelity make surprise moves to enter the bitcoin and crypto market, a new finding surfaces. A survey of professional investors who collectively manage $2.2 trillion in assets has returned a huge crypto price prediction.

How Investors Are Taking This Bitcoin Price Action?

Institutional investors and wealth managers were found to be optimistic about the future price of bitcoin and ethereum. Furthermore, 46% forecasting bitcoin will be worth $35,000 or more within six months. However, 64% predict the price of ethereum will exceed $2,000 during the same period.

“Predicting future price movements in the cryptocurrency market is always a challenging endeavor. However, the survey clearly points to constructive price recovery expectations by institutional investors.” This was stated by Anatoly Crachilov, the chief executive of London-based crypto asset manager Nickel Digital.

Meanwhile, over half (58%) of respondents said they expect the crypto bear market to end within six months. This suggests a spring price rally.

“It is a well-grounded long-term optimism,” Crachilov added. “Investors acknowledge that the ongoing crypto winter still has some way to run but there is also a recognition that, if history is any guide, once the winter ends these high-beta markets will stage strong recovery.”

This Week on Bitcoin And ethereum

This week, as the stock market buckled under pressure from the Federal Reserve and fears rampant inflation could require an even stronger response.  Bitcoin, and other crypto prices climbed before falling back, with the bitcoin price dropping to just over $18,000.

“The $18,000 level has continued to provide decent support and if bitcoin doesn’t break down in the coming days, we could see upward movement in October with $24,000 and $26,000 being initial levels to watch,” Joe DiPasquale, the chief executive of bitcoin BitBull Capital, said in emailed comments.

After a sharp drop in the last few days, crypto tokens regained some flair. Top crypto tokens were moving in tandem with other riskier assets, rising higher on Thursday.

Whats Up With The Crypto Markets In Russia

Russia escalated its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the prospects of a severe global recession increased exponentially. Consequently Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was trading above $19,000.

Barring the US dollar-pegged USD Coin, all top crypto tokens were trading sharply higher on Thursday. BNB zoomed more than 5%, whereas Bitcoin, Solana and Ethereum rallied 4% each. XRP and Polygon were 3% up.

The global cryptocurrency market cap was trading significantly higher at $941.75 billion, jumping by 3% in the last 24-hours. However, the total trading volume tumbled over 12 per cent, close to $82.32 billion.

Expert take

This week, the global crypto market cap saw rapid changes with key cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum plummeting. The tokens dropped below their reserve prices but only to make corrections as spot volumes increased. According to Prashant Kumar, Founder & CEO, weTrade.

“Almost a fortnight after the Merge, Ethereum is trading at $1,300,” he added. “The strengthening US dollar, increased rate hikes and calls for broader regulations for stablecoins by the US Federal Reserve chair are all affecting the market.”

On the global scene, AQUA, a Web3 community platform for gamers, has launched its flagship marketplace for trading in-game assets. The startup also announced a $10 million investment from DIGITAL, an investment firm backed by Steve Cohen.

Cryptocurrency Prices Today: ETH And BTC Are Starting To Recover

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

Top Cryptocurrency gains today as bitcoin and Ethereum manage to show signs of recovery after days of serious slumps following the Merge. While bitcoin managed to climb above $19,000 mark on Thursday, Ethereum on the other hand saw a 24 hour gain of about 5%. Other altcoins which include the likes of Dogecoin, Litecoin and Solana were all in greens this morning.

Furthermore, Ripple emerged as the biggest gainer, with a 24-hour gain of 34.13%. At the time of writing this report, the global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $950.8 billion. Consequently, this marks a 4.73% gain in the last 24 hours, as per CoinMarketCap data.

Top Cryptocurrency Prices Today

Bitcoin price stood at $19,38.77, seeing a 24-hour gain at 3.34%. Meanwhile, ETH price stood at $1,339.17, marking a 24-hour gain of 5.70% at the time of writing. Dogecoin followed by registering a 24-hour gain of 6.66% as per CoinMarketCap data, currently priced at $0.0614.

Litecoin also saw som magic as the cryptocurrency saw a 24-hour gain of 4.51. At the time of writing, it was priced at $54.26. XRP price stood at $0.5328, seeing a 24-hour gain of 31.01%.

Furthermore, Solana price stood at $32.90, marking a 24-hour gain of 5.47%. Today’s price action saw the biggest gainers as Ripple (XRP) at 34.13% in 24hours. The best loser being Terra Classic, with a 4.93% gain in 24 hours.

What Cryptocurrency Exchanges Are Saying About The Current Price Action

Mudrex co-founder and CEO Edul Patel told ABP Live: “Bitcoin and Ethereum rose on Thursday after going through a roller coaster ride in the past few days. BTC managed to trade above $19,300 with the support of buyers. If BTC can close above $19,500 today, we might see an upward trend in the next week. But if it falls below the current level, we might see BTC going back to the $18,000 support. The second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, has also shown a bullish sentiment in line with BTC. This price action comes as a relief to the market participants after the successful Merge. If ETH can hold above the current level, we might soon see it reaching the $1,500 level.”

Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO and co-founder of Unocoin said, “Indian markets mainly reacted to the US central bank’s hawkish tone on interest rates, which created pessimism among investors. The Fed’s latest quarterly summary of policymakers’ projections shows that US central bankers expect to raise the key interest rate, now in a range of 3-3.25% after Wednesday’s 75 basis point increase, to 4.4% by the end of this year and to 4.6% until the end of this year. cryptocurrencies fended off declines triggered by the US Federal Reserve’s next big interest rate hike, although sentiment remained cautious given the central bank’s warning of economic pain ahead of policy tightening. Bitcoin had some positive price movement in the morning but ended with 1.5% negative by end of the day. Second-biggest coin Ether continued to underperform, falling 2% as well.”

WeTrade Founder Has His Say On The crypto Situation

WeTrade founder Prashant Kumar offered his take on the market scenario as well, “After days of movement in the red due to increased interest rates, the crypto market cap saw some positive movement with a 4% increase during Asia trading hours on Friday morning. Bitcoin caught up by 3.8% but is still trading below $20,000.”

Ethereum Crashes After A Successful Merge

Posted on by Augustine Ojeh

The much awaited Ethereum Merge has come and gone. The aftermath of this event is still rather uncertain. However, it seems that the “Successful Merge” has produced some sort of reaction from the crypto society. It is not the reaction many were expecting. Ethereum is down by nearly 8% after the merge.

The second largest cryptocurrency in the world is now trading at $1,500 for the first time in more than a week. The plunge came from the merge, shifting from a more energy-intensive model  to a more eco-friendly one. 

What Exactly Is causing This Drop In Ethereum Prices?

The Ethereum merge went off without a hitch from a tech perspective. However, sentiment around ETH after the shift to a more environmentally-friendly consensus model might be dipping. Today, the price of ETH plummeted below the $1,500 mark for the first time in more than a week.

According to data from CoinGecko, ETH is down almost 8% over the last 24 hours to a current price of $1,485. That’s a sharper drop than the rest of the crypto market right now. According to CoinGecko it is down about 3% on the whole, with Bitcoin down about 2%.

Initially, the price of ETH had remained largely flat after the overnight merge, hovering around the $1,600 mark with slight fluctuations. However, shortly after 10AM ET this morning, the price sharply dipped from about $1,585 to its current mark. The move is not altogether unexpected.

In a report in early August, crypto analytics firm Glassnode flagged data on derivatives exchanges. One that indicated that the merge was shaping out to be a “sell the news” event. 

The hype around the merge appeared to be generating bullish sentiment around Ethereum in July. However, sophisticated derivatives traders were already hedging their bets. They did this expecting the price of ETH to drop after the event, according to Glassnode.

Ethereum’s Sell-The-News In play

“Traders appear to be utilizing call options to bet on the ETH price into September, whilst futures and options backwardation indicate an expectation to sell-the-news is in play,” Glassnode researchers wrote in a report at the time.

The merge is Ethereum developers’ name for the long-awaited shift away from the original proof-of-work consensus model. A model in which thousands upon of users run powerful computers to secure the network and also earn cryptocurrency rewards.

Under the new proof-of-stake model—in which validators stake (or hold) coins in the network to process transactions—the network is estimated to use over 99% less energy than before, according to the Ethereum Foundation.

While many Ethereum proponents were in favor of the merge, some ecosystem participants were less thrilled. For example, some have forked the previous version of the network to create the new EthereumPoW (ETHW) network. This will retain mining, while other miners have instead started mining coins like Ethereum Classic (ETC) or Ravencoin (RVN). 

The Current Price Of Cryptocurrencies Today 

Meanwhile, on the general cryptocurrency scene, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are strugging. 

“The current pressure on the crypto market is a result of a broader sell-off in the traditional markets. Especially as investors move away from high-risk assets to safeguard their wealth from economic shocks. The soaring cost of food and energy along with geo-political uncertainty will keep the investors on their toes in the coming weeks.” said Tarusha Mittal, COO and co-founder of UniFarm.

Bitcoin could not recover on the day as it continued to trade below the $20,500 markThis is a crucial point for the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Bitcoin price today was standing at $20,172.85, down by 0.37 per cent in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.