Coin360 Daily Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | February 19, 2024

Bitcoin Eyes $58,000: Growth Spurs Bullish Market Predictions

Bitcoin's journey toward a pre-halving surge sees it eyeing $58,000, fueled by massive momentum and a bullish market, with a notable 25.83% increase over the past 30 days. IntoTheBlock forecasts an 85% chance of hitting new highs in six months, driven by the halving, ETF inflows, anticipated Federal Reserve rate cuts, the US presidential election, and global corporate accumulation. 

Factors like increased self-custody and reduced selling pressure post-halving, alongside potential Fed policy shifts, hint at further price escalations. Coinbase's record low Bitcoin holdings, following an 18,000 BTC withdrawal, reflect a dynamic market, yet its financial health remains robust. 

Data suggests the market's euphoria phase is far off, with room for growth as Bitcoin's open interest hits a 27-month high, indicating increased market activity. According to Bloomberg, technical analysis supports more gains, comparing current trends with past surges and highlighting the impact of ETFs and the halving event.

Ethereum Surges to $2,900: Whale Buys and Upgrade Optimism

Ethereum's price surged by 28% to surpass $2,900, with a notable whale accumulating over $150M in ETH, signaling strong market confidence. The Dencun upgrade promises significant scalability improvements, while the SEC's potential approval of a spot Ethereum ETF fuels optimism. Ethereum's trading volume reached a 30-day peak, with the price targeting $3,500. 

Post-Merge, Ethereum has seen a deflationary trend with 359,557 ETH burned, reducing supply. As per Vitalik Buterin, the implementation of Verkle Trees aims to enhance network efficiency by enabling stateless validator clients. 2024 marks a pivotal year with Ethereum's first bull cycle post-Merge, further emphasizing its growing ecosystem and technological advancements.

Record Inflows into Bitcoin ETFs: Spotlight on Spot-Based ETFs

Last week, Bitcoin ETFs garnered a record $2.4 billion in inflows, driven by heightened demand for spot-based ETFs. BTC dominated the inflows, comprising 99% of the total, with BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC leading the way. Additionally, total crypto ETP inflows reached $2.5 billion, while blockchain equity ETFs experienced a $167 million outflow.  

Worldcoin Hits New Heights: User Milestone Amid Legal Challenges

Worldcoin's WLD token, co-founded by OpenAI's Sam Altman, soared over 186% in a week, hitting an all-time high as its user count surpassed 1 million, despite controversies over its iris-scanning method for digital ID and UBI distribution. Meanwhile, the token's surge benefits creditors of the bankrupt Three Arrows Capital and FTX, with a significant token unlock underway. In a separate development, FTX and Alameda are sued for allegedly profiting from a scheme involving Tether stablecoin sales, highlighting ongoing legal and regulatory challenges in the crypto sector.

FixedFloat Hack: A $26 Million Crypto Heist Unfolds

FixedFloat, an automatic decentralized crypto exchange, faced a significant security breach, resulting in the loss of Bitcoin and Ethereum, totaling approximately $26 million. The attack, initially characterized by FixedFloat as a minor problem, involved the theft of at least 1,700 Ethereum (worth around $4.7 million) and over $21 million in Bitcoin. The stolen Bitcoin funds were partly sent through Samourai Wallet using CoinJoin transactions for mixing. 

Despite speculation of internal involvement, FixedFloat clarified the hack was external, caused by security vulnerabilities. The exchange, emphasizing its non-custodial nature, stated no user funds were affected but acknowledged the delay in fulfilling 30 outstanding orders due to the hack. FixedFloat is working on resuming full operations and plans to release a detailed report post-investigation. 

Binance Ends Leveraged Token Support: A Shift in Strategy

Binance will discontinue support for leveraged tokens linked to Bitcoin, Ether, and BNB on April 3. Trading and subscription services will end on February 28, with token delisting and redemption phased out from April 1 to April 3. Users are advised to convert their tokens into other assets or face automatic conversion to USDT.  

Airdrop Hunters Swarm GitHub: The Scroll Repository Phenomenon

Airdrop farmers are swarming GitHub, leaving over 1,000 comments on the Scroll repository. The strategy aims to garner future token airdrops, following the recent Celestia and Starknet distributions. Developers express frustration, but some see this trend as an opportunity for genuine contribution. Measures to prevent spam include temporary submission limits and identifying genuine contributors.  

Ethereum ETF on the Horizon: Analysts Predict Approval

Bernstein predicts Ethereum (ETH) as the next potential cryptocurrency to secure an ETF approval, with a 50% chance by May and near certainty by year-end. Ethereum's appeal to institutional investors stems from staking rewards, eco-friendly design, and DeFi prominence. Leading in smart contract deployment, Ethereum's Berlin upgrade aims to reduce transaction costs.  

Aave's New Incentive Program: Encouraging User Engagement

Aave proposed the "Merit" program, intending to offer $5M in quarterly incentives to encourage user adoption. The plan allocates rewards in WETH and GHO for specific user behaviors aligned with Aave's strategic objectives. Previous incentive programs significantly boosted Aave's TVL. The proposal is open to public feedback and aims to modify based on community input.  

Trust Wallet's SWIFT Initiative: Enhancing Web3 Accessibility

Trust Wallet introduces SWIFT, a smart contract wallet with Account Abstraction for seamless Web3 use and enhanced security. SWIFT supports multiple EVM chains, integrates with Trust Wallet, offers one-click transactions, native gas fee abstraction, and biometric protection. It underwent rigorous security audits and continuous monitoring, reflecting Trust Wallet's commitment to accessibility and safety. 

AI Tokens Get a Boost: Vitalik Buterin's Endorsement

AI tokens surged 10% following Vitalik Buterin's endorsement of AI's potential to address Ethereum's technical risks. This led to a $18.06 billion market cap and $2.5 billion trading volume. Buterin believes AI can enhance code verification, but caution is advised. Concerns include AI-generated false positives complicating bug detection, as noted by Daniel Stenberg.  

Pixels Game Launches PIXEL Token: A New Crypto Success Story

Pixels game debuts PIXEL token, now worth over $0.62 with a $480M market cap. About 771M tokens are in circulation out of 5B. Binance offered 350M PIXEL as rewards. 20M PIXEL was airdropped to Ronin stakers. Game migrated to Ronin and experienced a surge, credited with driving Ronin's adoption from 20k to 700k users.  

Chiliz Partners with K League: Boosting Fan Interaction

Chiliz (CHZ) has partnered with K League in South Korea to enhance fan engagement. K League will integrate its official fantasy game into the Chiliz Chain ecosystem, becoming the first sports organization to act as a validator. This signifies a significant move for the league, building on its previous partnership with the blockchain-powered fantasy soccer platform, Sorare.  

Sui Blockchain Outpaces Rivals: A New Leader in TVL

Sui blockchain surpassed Aptos, Cardano, and Near in total value locked (TVL), reaching $593 million, with $310 million bridged from Ethereum in 30 days. The SUI token rose 131% since January to $1.80 before pulling back. It achieved 6,000 TPS and 13.8 million blocks in one day. Notably, inscription-related activity and the NFT phase helped boost its performance.  

Fake Rabby Wallet Alert: Users Lose Thousands

A fake Rabby Wallet app has been draining funds from users on the Apple App Store for four days. Victims report losses totaling $45,000. The official Rabby Wallet team has confirmed that the app on the store is fake, and users have voiced concerns on social media platforms and Apple's discussion board. Similar incidents have occurred with other crypto wallet apps.  

Japan Eases VC Crypto Rules: A Boost for Web3 Startups

The Japanese government plans to relax VC crypto investment rules, allowing venture capital firms to invest in Web3 companies and hold cryptoassets. The move, anticipated since last September, aims to submit a bill to parliament this year. This decision may revolutionize funding for Japanese Web3 startups and attract more investments domestically.

Trader's Massive Return on SORA: A Token Surge Story  

An unidentified trader saw a 1,280x return on their initial investment in SORA tokens, netting $176,000 from 0.049 ETH. The SORA token's surge followed OpenAI's unveiling of the Sora model, prompting rallies in AI-related tokens like Worldcoin, Bittensor, and Fetch.ai. Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin also explored AI's potential to enhance network security. Despite recent success, SORA's value remains volatile.  

Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Gainers:

Arweave AR (+17.59%) 

Worldcoin WLD (+16.67%) 

Hedera Hashgraph HBAR (+13.63%)

Losers:

Monero XMR (-7.69%) 

Injective INJ (-4.31%) 

Sei SEI (-4.19%)