Coin360 Daily Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | September 27, 2023

Crypto Market Update

Table of Contents

Regulatory and Government Actions

• SEC Delays ARK 21Shares' Bitcoin ETF Decision
• Hong Kong Police Crack Down on JPEX Fraud
• SEC Faces Congressional Scrutiny Over FTX CEO

Crypto Exchanges and Platforms

• Binance Sells Russian Operations to CommEX
• Hashkey Opens AVAX Trading for Professional Investors

Blockchain and Network Developments

• Chainlink Expands to Ethereum Layer-2 Network Base
• Curve Founder Settles Debt with Aave
• Monad Labs Unveils High-Performance Blockchain

Market Trends and Analysis

• Bitcoin's Resilience Amid Dollar Strength
• Ether's Struggle and Potential ETF Impact
• Shiba Inu's BONE Token Experiences Price Surge

Funding and Financial Moves

• Uniswap Foundation Seeks Funding for Ecosystem Growth
• Mixin Network Offers Bug Bounty to Hacker

Banking and Public Sentiment

• Chase Bank UK's Controversial Crypto Stance

NFT News

• NFT Market Trends and Transformative Potential

SEC Delays ARK 21Shares' Bitcoin ETF Decision

The SEC has pushed the decision deadline for ARK 21Shares' spot Bitcoin ETF to January 10th, following a similar delay for GlobalX. Bloomberg Analyst James Seyffart questioned whether this decision would prevent the launch of any Spot Bitcoin ETF this year and expressed doubt about the likelihood of approval. 

Potential reasons for the early delay include an impending government shutdown and a letter from Congress urging the SEC to approve pending Spot Bitcoin ETFs. Despite bipartisan lawmakers urging SEC Chair Gary Gensler for approval, citing investor protection, no spot BTC ETFs have been greenlit. Concerns also raised about Chinese-linked broker-dealers in the U.S.

Hong Kong Police Crack Down on JPEX Fraud

Hong Kong police have made 12 arrests in the JPEX crypto exchange fraud case, seizing assets worth $11 million. Over 2,300 victims have reported losses of $175 million, and measures are being taken to prevent future fraud.  

SEC Faces Congressional Scrutiny Over FTX CEO

US House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry threatens to subpoena the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over documents related to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. 

McHenry accuses SEC Chair Gary Gensler of hindering the digital asset ecosystem and being nontransparent with Congress. The committee has requested documents regarding the timing of Bankman-Fried's arrest but has not received satisfactory responses.  

Binance Sells Russian Operations to CommEX

Binance has sold its Russian business to crypto platform CommEX. CommEX, launched just 24 hours prior, will take over user registrations and assets over the next year. The sale was prompted by compliance concerns and investigations into Binance's operations in Russia. 

The Wall Street Journal published an article claiming that Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, was "beginning to collapse" based on an unnamed source. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao responded by sharing an article in which the founder of a bankrupt exchange, accused of fraud, was hailed as a hero by the WSJ. 

Zhao dismissed the allegations and criticized the source. This came as Binance's market share among platforms that do not support USD trading dropped from 75% at the beginning of the year to under 51% in September.

Hashkey Opens AVAX Trading for Professional Investors

Hong Kong crypto exchange Hashkey opens AVAX trading, but only professional investors with a portfolio exceeding $1 million can participate. The exchange has a small trading volume compared to its global peers. Regulated retail crypto trading in Hong Kong began in August, but incidents of fraud have occurred. The SFC is now publishing a warning list of non-compliant exchanges.  

Chainlink Expands to Ethereum Layer-2 Network Base

Blockchain oracle platform Chainlink has extended its cross-chain capabilities to Ethereum layer-2 network Base, enabling the development of cross-chain applications. Chainlink also serves as the primary oracle for the Base network, with several projects already integrating the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) on Base.

Curve Founder Settles Debt with Aave

Curve founder Michael Egorov settled $35M debt on Aave by depositing 68M CRV tokens and converting 10.77M crvUSD to USDT. He now has $132M collateral and $42M debt across four DeFi lenders. CRV token price has increased by 3.48% in the past 24 hours, shaking up crypto coin prices.  

Monad Labs Unveils High-Performance Blockchain

Monad Labs has released technical documents revealing that the token for its upcoming proof-of-stake blockchain will be called mon. The documentation highlights the high throughput of the blockchain, offering up to 10,000 transactions per second with a one-second block time. 

Monad also uses a pipelined architecture, allowing for immediate finality within each block. The blockchain is Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible and aims to optimize Ethereum's performance.

Bitcoin's Resilience Amid Dollar Strength

The crypto price of Bitcoin has been back to $26,200 after rising to $26,750 despite the US dollar index reaching a 10-month high of 106.48, which usually has a bearish impact on cryptocurrencies. The short-lived rise was driven by spot market buyers and a short squeeze, causing bears to cover their bets and pushing prices higher. 

Bitcoin's implied volatility has consistently been higher than that of Ethereum for 20 straight days, signaling that traders see higher volatility in Bitcoin relative to Ethereum. This is reflective of macroeconomic uncertainties and a focus on Bitcoin as a macro asset influenced by factors such as Fed policy and traditional markets. 

Meanwhile, Ethereum has fallen out of favor due to revenue concerns and inflationary tokenomics, but could see renewed interest later this year with an upcoming upgrade.

Ether's Struggle and Potential ETF Impact

Ether, as well as the Ethereum market cap, is currently trading near its yearly lows against Bitcoin, continuing a declining trend that began in September 2022. However, the potential approval of futures-based ETFs for Ether in October could reverse this trend. 

CME derivative traders have a bearish outlook on Ether, and the recent interest rate decisions had little impact on the crypto market. Bitcoin and Ether have both experienced slight declines in the last week.

Shiba Inu's BONE Token Experiences Price Surge

Shiba Inu's BONE token made waves on cryptocurrency charts, reaching its highest value since September earlier today. The token has seen a significant increase in on-chain performance, with a rise in the number of active addresses, new addresses, and nonzero addresses. This surge is attributed to the completion of the token contract renouncement, making BONE a fully decentralized entity. 

Meanwhile, data from the IntoTheBlock app reveals that the number of Shiba Inu (SHIB) investors holding a losing position has increased in the last 20 days, with 88% of addresses "out of the money." Only 9% of SHIB investors are holding a profitable position. On-chain signals also indicate bearish sentiment for SHIB.

Uniswap Foundation Seeks Funding for Ecosystem Growth

The Uniswap Foundation is requesting $62.37 million in funding for Uniswap ecosystem growth. A vote will be held on October 4th. The funds will be used for operations, grants, employee compensation, developer support, cash runway, and low-risk investments.  

Mixin Network Offers Bug Bounty to Hacker

Cross-chain service Mixin Network has offered a $20m "bug bounty" reward to a hacker who stole $200m from the platform. Mixin Network hopes the incentive will encourage the hacker to return the funds voluntarily.

Chase Bank UK's Controversial Crypto Stance

Chase Bank UK is rumored to have sent an email to customers stating that it would decline any payment related to cryptocurrencies. Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, called the bank's behavior "totally inappropriate" and urged UK crypto holders to close their Chase bank accounts. 

Some customers have already expressed their intention to boycott the bank. JPMorgan Chase & Co shares closed higher, despite the controversy. Confirmation on the payment halt is expected by October 16.

Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Gainers:

Bitcoin Cash BCH (+6.21%)

Chainlink LINK (+3.62%)

Synthetix SNX (+3.49%)

Losers:

Immutable X IMX (-4.07%)

FTX Token FTT (-4.01%)

MultiversX EGLD (-3.55%)

NFT Market Map

NFT Market Trends and Transformative Potential

The NFT market has experienced a decline in value, with a 94% decrease from its peak. However, there has been substantial growth in unique buyers, sales, and total transactions in 2023 compared to 2020. NFTs are still considered a transformative technology.  

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.