Coin360 Daily Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | May 17, 2023

Crypto Market Update

Written by Van

Table of Contents:

Banking and Regulatory Updates

• Celsius Network Withdraws Staked Ether from Lido Finance
• Bancor Faces Class-Action Suit Over Securities Act Violations
• Tether to Purchase More Bitcoin, Boosting Excess Reserves

Crypto Market Developments

• Bitcoin's Price Hinges on US Debt Ceiling Negotiations
• Ethereum Dips to $1,800 Amid High Gas Fees, Regulatory Pressures
• Dogecoin Transaction Volume Peaks after Token Issuance Mechanism Launch
• Solana's NFT Ecosystem Sees Over 100% Growth in Buyers and Sellers
• Axie Infinity Sees New User Surge After Apple Appstore Listing

Crypto Exchange and Platform Updates

• Bitcoin Cash Network Implements CashTokens
• WazirX Claims Binance Controls Supply of WRX Token
• Compound Finance Deploys New Iteration on Arbitrum Scaling Solution
• Ripple's Win in SEC Case Boosts XRP Rally
• Uniswap Joins Polkadot Network via Moonbeam Network
• LooksRare Launches NFT Raffle Program with Chainlink VRF

Country-Specific Developments

• Life Sentences for Crypto Thieves in Vietnam
• Russian National Charged for Crypto-Ransomware Scheme Against US
• UK Parliament Report Suggests Regulating Crypto Trading as Gambling

Blockchain and Technology Updates

• Bitcoin Taproot Assets Protocol Enters Testnet Phase
• Telegram Addresses Security Exploit Affecting Camera Systems on macOS
• Near Protocol Integrates with Wormhole Bridge for Cross-Chain Transfers

Celsius Network Withdraws Staked Ether from Lido Finance

Celsius Network has requested the withdrawal of over 200,000 staked ether tokens from Lido Finance, following the upgrade of Lido's V2. This comes after Celsius successfully removed over 428,000 stETH tokens worth $778.97 million on May 15. These withdrawals could be part of the company's efforts to make whole custody account holders who opted for settlement. Under the settlement, custodial account holders could reclaim 72.5% of their cryptocurrency holdings.

Bancor Faces Class-Action Suit Over Securities Act Violations

Investors have filed a class-action suit against Bancor, its operator BProtocol Foundation, and its founders, alleging violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and Exchange Act of 1934. The plaintiffs claim that Bancor deceived investors about impermanent loss protection mechanism, and that the founders retained control over the DAO. The suit seeks restitution, damages, and interest for losses approaching 50% of liquidity provider program investments, amounting to tens of millions of dollars for US retail investors. 

Tether to Purchase More Bitcoin, Boosting Excess Reserves

Tether will use up to 15% of its net realized operating profits to purchase Bitcoin, according to an announcement made by the stablecoin issuer on Wednesday. The company already holds around $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in its reserves, but will purchase more of the cryptocurrency to boost its excess reserves. Critics have raised concerns over Tether's reserve claims, citing lack of regulatory framework and insufficient disclosure regarding the U.S. dollar reserves that back USDT. 

Bitcoin's Price Hinges on US Debt Ceiling Negotiations

Bitcoin's price hovered just below $27,000 on Tuesday, down 0.6% for the day, with investors focused on US debt ceiling negotiations. Analysts believe a resolution could potentially boost Bitcoin, which may see increased adoption due to the current macroeconomic situation. 

Bitcoin has entered a new "speculation cycle" typical of a bull run, according to Philip Swift, creator of data resource LookIntoBitcoin. The RHODL Ratio metric, which tracks BTC price behavior based on the realized price of the supply, is said to reveal the extent of speculation on the market. Swift argues that a new bull cycle is already underway, fuelled by the increase in speculative activity. 

Ethereum Dips To $1,800 Amid High Gas Fees, Regulatory Pressures

Ethereum has just dropped to $1,800 due to high gas fees and regulatory pressures. The SEC says crypto regulation may take years and enforcement actions will continue, while the EU approves the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. Ethereum DApps experience a drop in deposits, while BNB Smart Chain attempts to take a lead in DEX volume. 

Data shows professional traders turning bearish, with the lack of leverage buying demand signaling that the $1,900 resistance will be hard to break in the short term. Whales holding over 1,000 ETH have reportedly been disinterested in re-accumulating at current levels, contributing to sell pressure. However, addresses holding over 10 million coins have been accumulating during the last four weeks. 

Dogecoin Transaction Volume Peaks after Token Issuance Mechanism Launch

Dogecoin's daily transaction volume surged to a lifetime peak of over 645,000 transactions on Sunday following the launch of a new mechanism allowing token issuance on its blockchain. This is a tenfold increase from the average daily volume earlier this week. Critics, however, argue that the new DRC-20 token standard may lead to network congestion and move away from dogecoin's goal of being an everyday currency. 

Solana's NFT Ecosystem Sees Over 100% Growth in Buyers and Sellers

Solana's NFT ecosystem experienced significant growth last week, with the number of buyers and sellers of Solana NFTs increasing by over 100%, according to CRYPTOSLAM. The number of total transactions also slightly increased, however, NFT sales volume decreased. MadLads, The Box, and Famous Fox Federation were the most traded NFT collections on Solana, with MadLads seeing a trading volume of over 87,000. The number of daily active addresses on Solana NFT marketplaces remained stable, and the blockchain's number of NFT trade counts increased considerably. 

Axie Infinity Sees New User Surge After Apple Appstore Listing

Axie Infinity's recent listing on Apple's Appstore has led to a surge in new gamers joining the network, with a 300% spike in new wallet addresses. While AXS price retraced 28% in May, strategic investors could begin positioning for a bullish reversal as social sentiment remains negative. The GIOM data suggests that AXS is likely to rally above $11 again, but must first scale the $8.79 resistance. Failure to hold the $6.84 support could invalidate the bullish AXS price prediction and trigger a drop toward $5.92.

Bitcoin Cash Network Implements CashTokens

CashTokens have been officially implemented on the Bitcoin Cash network, allowing users to create and manage customizable tokens representing a wide variety of assets. This upgrade aims to facilitate a broader range of use cases including DApps and NFTs. However, despite lower transaction fees and improved scalability, Bitcoin Cash has struggled to attract long-term investors with active wallet addresses currently sitting at around 40,000. 

WazirX Claims Binance Controls Supply of WRX Token

Binance allegedly controls the supply of WazirX's WRX token, including the wallets containing locked and unlocked tokens, according to a statement by the Indian crypto exchange. WazirX said Binance kept the $2 million in initial exchange offering proceeds for itself, and currently holds 580.7 million units of locked and unlocked WRX tokens. Binance has yet to respond to the claims. The two exchanges have been involved in a long-standing feud over the ownership structure of WazirX, which culminated in the termination of their relationship in February. 

Compound Finance Deploys New Iteration on Arbitrum Scaling Solution

Compound Finance has announced that it has deployed its latest iteration on the popular scaling solution Arbitrum, which is the industry's largest layer-2 scaling solution by total value locked (TVL). The project's latest iteration, called V3, is optimized to manage risk by reducing the amount of long-tail crypto assets that can be lent and borrowed. Compared to other popular Ethereum scalers, Arbitrum takes the cake at a whopping $5.8 billion. 

Ripple's Win in SEC Case Boosts XRP Rally

Ripple has won a rally for XRP after the SEC's attempt to seal internal files known as the "Hinman Speech documents" was shut down by Judge Analisa Torres. The documents consist of SEC drafts and emails relating to a speech given by William Hinman, former Director of the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance, which could impact XRP's own classification. Public access to the documents has been granted, except for partial redactions of the names and identifying information of SEC witnesses. 

Crypto payments firm Ripple has acquired Swiss custody firm Metaco for $250 million. Metaco helps institutions with the storage, trading, and management of digital currencies. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the acquisition could help trigger a departure from the crypto winter. 

Uniswap Joins Polkadot Network via Moonbeam Network

Uniswap, a popular decentralized exchange platform, is set to join the Polkadot blockchain network via the Moonbeam Network, showcasing the interoperability of both protocols. This partnership offers millions of users access to broader markets within the Polkadot ecosystem, known for its high performance, scalability, security, and interoperability. Polkadot's efforts to expand and increase its usability have attracted many new decentralized applications, making it one of the most active protocols on GitHub. 

LooksRare Launches NFT Raffle Program with Chainlink VRF

LooksRare has launched a seven-day raffle program where participants can win coveted NFTs, including a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT, by purchasing entries for 0.01 ETH or less. The program is built on smart contracts and uses Chainlink VRF for provably fair and transparent results. The raffle is open to anyone with a crypto wallet and enough ETH to cover the entry cost and gas fees. 

Life Sentences for Crypto Thieves in Vietnam

Two individuals were sentenced to life in prison for stealing $1.5 million worth of cryptocurrency in Vietnam. Fourteen others received prison sentences ranging from nine to 19 years, two of whom were former police officers. Vietnam is a leading country in crypto adoption, despite its lack of status.

Russian National Charged for Crypto-Ransomware Scheme Against US

The US DOJ charged Russian national Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev for a crypto-ransomware scheme against US infrastructure. Matveev used multiple ransomware variants to attack critical infrastructure globally, demanding up to $400 million and stealing $200 million. The attacks were carried out against law enforcement agencies and healthcare victims nationwide.

UK Parliament Report Suggests Regulating Crypto Trading as Gambling

The UK Parliament Treasury Select Committee has published a report that recommends regulating cryptocurrency trading as gambling, prompting criticism from the crypto industry. The report claimed investing in crypto was similar to "betting on unbacked tokens", and that traders should be aware they could lose all their money. The government was also criticised for promoting technological innovations, including non-fungible tokens, for their own sake. CryptoUK called the report "unhelpful, false, fundamentally flawed and unsubstantiated". 

Bitcoin Taproot Assets Protocol Enters Testnet Phase

Lightning Labs has announced that the Bitcoin Taproot Assets protocol is in the testnet phase, allowing multi-asset support via the Lightning Network. The protocol has been a year in the making and will foster greater Bitcoin use by providing quick, cheap, and scalable asset issuance capabilities to the network. Unlike the divisive Ordinals protocol, Taproot Assets works with layer 2 lightning networks to improve privacy and scalability. 

Telegram Addresses Security Exploit Affecting Camera Systems on macOS

Telegram has played down the severity of an exploit that allowed researchers to gain access to camera systems on Apple macOS devices. Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn stated that the exploit was more related to Apple’s permission security, rather than Telegram, and that it required malware to be installed on the systems. The company executed changes to address the issue on 16 May, and users who downloaded the Telegram app directly from the messaging application's website were not at risk. 

Near Protocol Integrates with Wormhole Bridge for Cross-Chain Transfers

Near Protocol will integrate with Wormhole Bridge for cross-chain transfers, replacing its main bridge Rainbow. The integration will utilize Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Proofs for security. Developers from both companies will build light client solutions to delegate the computational load required for Z Proofs to an off-chain layer, optimizing storage and computational resources. 

Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Gainers:

Axie Infinity AXS (+6.34%)

Decentraland MANA (+5.30%)

Render Token RNDR (+4.46%)

Losers

Pepe PEPE (-11.51%)

Radix XRD (-6.40%)

Conflux CFX (-4.96%)

NFT Market Map

Chinese prosecutors warn that NFT creators can use airdrops, blind boxes, limited sales, and synthesis to hide in plain view, and that NFT projects can evolve into illegal pyramid schemes. The prosecutors urge creators to report every financial activity in accordance with the law to prevent NFT-related crimes. Meanwhile, China is yet to issue clear guidance on crypto assets despite increased mainland demand. 

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.