Coin360 Daily Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | January 16, 2024

Grayscale's 9,000 BTC Move Impacts Prices

In the Bitcoin realm, Grayscale's 9,000 BTC move for potential sale post-ETF conversion briefly dipped prices. A significant pullback occurred, led by Binance and OKX traders, following U.S. spot ETF launches. Bitcoin's RSI hit a four-month low, yet prices stayed above $40,000, signaling possible oversold conditions. Large Bitcoin holders ceased moving old coins, hinting at a market recovery. Despite capital inflows, Bitcoin remains prone to corrections.

Tether Denies UN Report, Highlights Legal Cooperation

Tether disputed a UN report linking USDT to illicit activities in Asia, emphasizing its role in aiding economies and law enforcement collaboration. Despite its market dominance reaching 71% and a $95 billion cap, Tether's growth attracted criminals in Asia. The company, actively cooperating with U.S. authorities, has frozen over $435 million in illicit funds and banned numerous suspicious addresses.

Ethereum's Surge Amid Record Transaction Highs

Ethereum's Ether price rose nearly 2% as network transactions hit a multi-year high, with daily transactions averaging 1.3 million. The total value locked in DeFi surged 230%, reaching over $100 billion, dominating 80% of the market. A record $1.6 billion of staked Ethereum was redeemed, led by Celsius and Figment. Ethereum's throughput reached a record high with nearly 2 million transactions, and the burn rate reduced ETH supply to post-merge lows.

TrueUSD's Peg Deviation Raises Concerns

TrueUSD (TUSD) has deviated from its $1 peg, trading around $0.988 to $0.985. Over $444 million in TUSD sell orders on Binance led to a $142 million deficit. Concerns over its collateralization and real-time reserve attestations have emerged. TUSD's exclusion from Binance's Manta launch pool and the HTX and Poloniex hacks are cited as potential factors for the depegging.

HashKey Group Secures $100M in Series A Funding

HashKey Group completed a $100M Series A funding, valuing the company at over $1.2B. The funds will boost the development of diverse Web3 products to strengthen the company's presence in Asia. The undisclosed investors include institutional investors and Web3 institutions. HashKey Exchange has seen significant growth, boasting 155k users and $630M in average trading volume.  

Chainlink Integrates Circle’s CCTP for USDC Transfers

Chainlink has integrated Circle’s CCTP with its CCIP system for secure USDC stablecoin transfers across blockchains. This collaboration aims to open up new stablecoin use cases in payments and DeFi. Chainlink's CCIP facilitates cross-chain messaging, while Circle's CCTP provides a standardized bridge protocol for native USDC transfers across seven supported networks.  

Large XRP Transfer Sparks Speculation

In a recent move, 443.1 million XRP, valued at $254.8 million, was transferred between two wallets. The transaction comes after a $15 billion XRP transfer, with ties to Bitvavo exchange. Speculation suggests an internal Bitvavo operation to optimize storage. This event adds further complexity to the abnormal XRP transfer narrative.  

Jupiter's Billion JUP Token Airdrop Announcement

Jupiter, a Solana-based DeFi aggregator, has scheduled a token airdrop of one billion JUP for nearly a million eligible users on January 31 at 10:00 am EST. This initial phase marks the commencement of a larger giveaway program totaling 5 billion JUP. Additionally, Jupiter plans to launch a meme coin as a precursor to the airdrop.  

SEC Delays Do Kwon's Trial Amidst Legal Challenges

The SEC agreed to delay Do Kwon's trial, initially set for January 29, 2024, to ensure his in-person participation post-extradition. Meanwhile, Kwon appealed against his U.S. extradition from Montenegro, challenging the High Court's decision. This legal tussle follows the Terra collapse, central to the charges against him.

Whale Accumulation Signals Bullish Outlook for MKR and AAVE

Whales are accumulating Maker (MKR) and Aave (AAVE) tokens. A significant amount of MKR was purchased by Anchorage Digital, while two whales bought large quantities of AAVE and MKR. Both tokens have high TVL. MKR and AAVE are expected to rally to new highs in 2024, with MKR showing a bullish breakout formation.  

OKX Expands in Dubai Amidst Global Crypto Regulation Shifts

OKX obtains a Dubai Vara license, enabling it to offer crypto services to retail and institutional clients. Indian crypto companies are relocating to Dubai due to favorable regulations. Binance launches an invite-only digital asset exchange in Thailand in partnership with Gulf Energy Development, targeting a public launch in early 2024, while tackling crypto scams.  

K33 Research Advises Against Investing in Cardano

K33 Research advises divesting from Cardano (ADA), citing lack of meaningful token use and activity. The report questions the network's practical application and future relevance, highlighting the absence of major stablecoins and suggesting a gradual fade from the crypto market. It predicts diminishing allure for new investors and gradual irrelevance for ADA.  

Mantle's v2 Launch: Top Layer 2 Network by Throughput

Mantle has launched its v2 iteration on the test network, built on Optimism's OP Stack for future compatibility. It facilitates gasless and EIP-1559 transactions. Mantle ranks as the top Layer 2 network by daily throughput, recently processing 16.8 TPS. It's the eighth largest L2 by TVL at $294M and its MNT token has gained 17.4% in the past week.  

Solana Mobile Unveils Affordable Saga Smartphone

Solana Mobile plans to launch a more affordable successor to the Saga crypto smartphone, which includes a built-in crypto wallet and custom Android software. Demand surged due to an arbitrage opportunity with the 30 million bonk tokens that come with the phone. Despite a sharp decline in bonk token value, secondary sales of Saga phones remain high.  

Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Gainers:

Chiliz CHZ (+19.11%)

Klaytn KLAY (+15.87%)

Blur BLUR (+15.26%)

Losers:

Tezos XTZ (-6.25%)

Ethereum Name Service ENS (-5.52%)

Aptos APT (-5.06%)