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Coin360 Daily Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | May 23, 2023

Crypto Market Update

Written by Van

Dash Blockchain Stalls Amid Dash Core v19 Hard Fork
Binance Dismissed from Tinder Crypto Scam Lawsuit
OKX Expanding Presence in France, Seeks 100 New Hires
FTX's Bankruptcy Reboot Plan Underway Under New CEO
Cardano Faces Setbacks with Transaction Speeds
Terra Classic's Cosmwasm Upgrade Expected to Boost LUNC Price
BNB Chain Records Highest Transaction Count Since May 2021

Crypto Market Performance

Institutional Investor Sentiment Drives Bitcoin Outflows
Litecoin's Ordinals Reach 3 Million
Shiba Inu Burn Rate Skyrockets by 2,372%
Ether Staking Surges After Shapella Upgrade
Rumors of US Debt Crisis Resolution Revives Bitcoin Activity

Significant Market Movements and Trends

Justin Sun's Planned MakerDAO Sell-off Could Impact MKR Price
Tether's Market Cap Rises Amidst Muted Trading Volumes

Miscellaneous Crypto News

Ledger Delays Release of 'Ledger Recover' After Backlash
FBI Warns Job Seekers of Crypto Scams in Hoax Postings

AI-Faked Pentagon Explosion Impacts Stock Market Briefly

A faked image of an explosion near the Pentagon, shared by a fake Bloomberg account, was enough to cause the stock market to dip briefly. The image was shared by multiple media outlets, including Russia Today and Republic, but was quickly identified as an AI-made fake. AI tools have been used before in the creation of fake news and deceptive content. The S&P 500 experienced a brief decline of 0.3%, causing a $500 billion swing, but the markets recovered quickly.

South Korea Proposes Lawmakers Declare Cryptocurrency Holdings

South Korean legislators must declare their cryptocurrency assets under new proposals following a scandal involving a high-ranking lawmaker's undisclosed investments. Existing legislation requires disclosure of traditional assets within a month of election. The new law is currently under review by the legislative committee. The US and UK have no specific guidance on cryptocurrency holdings. The South Korean move follows a scandal involving Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk and his millions in undisclosed crypto holdings.

Judge Urges Speed in Core Scientific's Bankruptcy Restructuring

Core Scientific may need to expedite its restructuring process, according to US Bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones, after its creditors called for the embattled crypto miner to fast-track its plans to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The miner's counsel said it could have a reorganization plan by September 25, despite objections from creditors who argue the process is taking too long. Core Scientific's valuation has plummeted from $4.3 billion to $78 million, and it filed for bankruptcy in December 2022.

Hong Kong Regulator to Accept Crypto Trading License Applications

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission will begin accepting applications for crypto trading platform licenses on June 1. The regulator will allow licensed virtual asset providers to serve retail investors, provided that operators assess understanding of risks involved. Stablecoins will not be admitted for retail trading until the jurisdiction's planned regulations for the asset class kick in. Crypto exchanges are to at least HKD 5m ($640,000) in capital and approved tokens on regulated exchanges need a 12-month "track record." The guidelines come into force on June 1.

Dash Blockchain Stalls Amid Dash Core v19 Hard Fork

The Dash blockchain experienced a stall during the activation of its Dash Core v19 hard fork, with a fix announced 13 hours later. Developers warned blocks and transactions not ChainLocked/InstantSend locked had no true finality. Binance suspended the distribution of Dash mining rewards during the downtime. The upgrade was intended to improve security, with another upgrade scheduled for June 14.

Binance Dismissed from Tinder Crypto Scam Lawsuit

Binance has been dismissed from a lawsuit relating to an online “pig butchering” crypto scam on the dating app Tinder. The judge ruled that there was no evidence that Binance Holdings aided and abetted the $8 million theft. Meanwhile, Binance is still facing scrutiny from US regulators, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleging violations and market manipulations.

OKX Expanding Presence in France, Seeks 100 New Hires

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX plans to hire around 100 people in France over the next three years as it seeks to establish a substantial physical presence in the country. It has filed an application to become registered as a Digital Asset Service Provider. The company's head of global government relations, Byun, expects the process to take up to six months.

FTX's Bankruptcy Reboot Plan Underway Under New CEO

New CEO John Ray's reboot plan for bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is underway, with the FTX team highlighting the compensation report for Ray's work during Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The plan to restart the exchange as FTX 2.0 by Q2 2024 involves a bidding process, and creditors and debtors have been meeting to finalise materials and review plans for restarting the exchange. FTX Token (FTT) saw a 12% jump in price, although not all were supportive of FTX's relaunch.

Cardano Faces Setbacks with Transaction Speeds

Cardano's touted one million transactions per second capability is currently facing setbacks, with delays in completing transactions on its decentralized exchanges. Users are frustrated and looking for alternative options like MuesliSwap, which offers a more efficient and user-friendly experience. The issue highlights the contrast between Cardano's theoretical capabilities and its practical application, potentially undermining its position in the DeFi sector.

Terra Classic's Cosmwasm Upgrade Expected to Boost LUNC Price

Terra Classic's Cosmwasm upgrade v1.1.0 is officially scheduled for June 14, with investors and observers expecting it to drive up the price of LUNC. The upgrade aims to enhance the functionality of the Cosmos SDK v0.45 by refining smart contracts within the Terra blockchain. The upgrade is significant for the network, enabling projects and builders from Cosmos and Terra Luna 2.0 to on the Terra Classic chain once again.

BNB Chain Records Highest Transaction Count Since May 2021

BNB Chain, a Layer 1 blockchain project associated with Binance, has achieved its highest transaction count since May 2021, with an average of 4.8 million transactions on May 22. BNB Chain's low transaction fees, high throughput, and adoption by DeFi and gaming projects are among the reasons for its success. BNB is the fourth-largest crypto token in the world with a market capitalization of nearly $50 billion, while the price of BNB is currently trading at around $314.

Institutional Investor Sentiment Drives Bitcoin Outflows

Bitcoin sentiment among institutional investors remained poor last week, leading to outflows of digital asset investment products for the fifth week in a row. The outflows for crypto funds totalled $32 million between 15 May and 19 May, according to CoinShares' Digital Asset Fund Flows Report. Outflows for Bitcoin investment products have reached $112 million so far this year, with 90% of the sum coming in May alone.

Litecoin's Ordinals Reach 3 Million

Litecoin's Ordinals hits 3 million inscriptions and averages a million per week, while hashrate rises to 724.338 Thash/s and mining difficulty declines. LTC's price increased by 4% in the last seven days and its upcoming halving may lead to a further price hike. Positive investor sentiment is reflected in LTC's on-chain metrics, with high whale transaction count and daily active addresses.

Shiba Inu Burn Rate Skyrockets by 2,372%

Shiba Inu's burn rate has increased by 2,372%, with over 1.2 billion coins burned in the last 24 hours alone, which is almost equivalent to the total amount burned in the past week. Meanwhile, SHIB's price is up by approximately 4.17% in the past 24 hours, indicating an attempt to recover.

Ether Staking Surges After Shapella Upgrade

Since the implementation of the Shapella upgrade on April 12, interest in staking Ethereum has surged. More than 4.4 million coins have been deposited into the staking contract, taking the total amount of staked tokens to 22.58 million. Bitfinex analysts attribute the surge to large Ether holders seeking passive income.

Rumors of US Debt Crisis Resolution Revives Bitcoin Activity

Bitcoin (BTC) showed signs of life as it once approached $27,500 on Bitstamp, following rumors that the US had resolved the debt ceiling crisis. Skew, a popular trader, noted that BTC had a successful bounce and anticipated a resolution towards $30,000 if both EMA trends hold. Material Indicators suggested that markets had "bought the rumor."

Justin Sun's Planned MakerDAO Sell-off Could Impact MKR Price

Tron network founder, Justin Sun, transferred $4.3 million worth of MakerDAO’s MKR tokens to crypto exchange Binance on Tuesday, indicating plans to sell. A sell order for 525 MKR on Binance's most liquid market could cause a 2% price decline, as the token's spot market is thin and illiquid. MakerDAO is currently undergoing a restructuring process called Endgame, which has caused backlash within the community.

Tether's Market Cap Rises Amidst Muted Trading Volumes

Tether's market cap has hit $82.9 billion, nearing its all-time high, but analysts have found that the stablecoin's supply has risen without a corresponding increase in trading volumes. Tether is primarily used for trading on centralized exchanges, with 50% of the market, compared to 20% on decentralized exchanges. The recent rise in market cap has shown no correlation to volumes. The majority of USDT, $46 billion worth, is issued on Tron, where it is popular with offshore exchanges due to low transaction fees.

Ledger Delays Release of 'Ledger Recover' After Backlash

Hardware wallet provider Ledger will delay the release of the Ledger Recover feature after facing backlash from the crypto community. CEO Pascal Gauthier promised to release the code for the service before launching it and pledged to speed up the company's open sourcing roadmap. Gauthier also reiterated the importance of offering key recovery services for new crypto users.

FBI Warns Job Seekers of Crypto Scams in Hoax Postings

The FBI warns job seekers against hoax postings leading to crypto scams. Criminals force applicants to scam crypto investors and them with law enforcement if they don't pay for housing and travel fees. Job seekers are labeled illegal workers and burdened with debt by trafficking them between compounds and confiscating passports. South Asian syndicates target tech-savvy college graduates who know about cryptocurrency. The International Monetary Fund reports that corrupt officials sometimes cooperate with criminals to move victims across borders.

Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Gainers:

Render Token RNDR (+11.35%)

Kava KAVA (+8.97%)

NEO NEO (+7.20%)

Losers:

eCash XEC (-3.25%)

The Graph GRT (-2.09%)

Bitcoin SV BSV (-1.23%)

NFT Market Map

The creator of the Grumpy Cat meme has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Glauber Contessoto, a Twitter user promoting a memecoin potentially violating intellectual property rights. The letter was delivered via NFT and accused Contessoto of promoting a token named GrumpyCat that infringes on the creator’s trademarks. The tweet followed Contessoto's claims that the intellectual property concerns surrounding the Grumpy Cat token had been resolved. The project allegedly has around 2,900 holders.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.