Given the uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment, Bitcoin price bulls have no reason to bet against a six-week descending wedge pattern.

The world of crypto is filled with fascinating possibilities and unexpected growth. In a recent series of tweets, Adam Cochran, a partner at CEHV, sparked a wave of Ethereum discussions by presenting a compelling case for Ethereums token, ETH, to potentially surge to as high as $457,081.

Revealing The Analysis

Cochran addressed skeptics who questioned the feasibility of ETH experiencing a 20x increase, comparing it to the market capitalizations of tech giants like Apple and Amazon. He emphasized that Ethereum should not be viewed as a traditional company, but rather as a groundbreaking blockchain-based infrastructure that transcends conventional boundaries.

Cochrans analysis took inspiration from the sheer magnitude of securities processed through clearing houses, reaching an astounding $2.5 quadrillion last year. Contemplating the possibility of conducting this process on the Ethereum blockchain with a meager 0.05% gas fee, Cochran envisioned an annual burn of $1.25 trillion worth of ETH, equivalent to 5.7 times the current market cap.

Building upon this foundation, he extrapolated a forward-looking multiple that projected Ethereums potential value to approach $35 trillion.

Cochrans projection gained more momentum as he introduced the concept of a compounding burn rate. Assuming an annual compounding burn rate of 2% or more over a 20-year period, the value per ETH could potentially skyrocket to $457,081.

Moreover, Cochran acknowledged that achieving a scenario where 100% of global securities settlement occurs on Ethereum within two decades might be unlikely, but settling 10% within a decade appeared feasible.

Ethereum Value And Market Reach

Beyond the securities market, Cochran proposed that Ethereum could capture additional value-based markets, further propelling its growth. He argued that settling 10% of global securities and tapping into other value markets could realistically lead to a 30x-35x increase in value within the next decade, even accounting for a 33% margin of error.

Notably, Cochrans analysis sheds light on Ethereums potential to disrupt traditional intermediaries, offering reliable and affordable settlement solutions. With trillions of dollars in annual turnover up for grabs, the prospect of eliminating trusted intermediaries become increasingly enticing for various markets worldwide.

While Cochran...

Render (RNDR) has been on an upward trajectory, recording some of the biggest profits in the crypto market this past week. This show of strength by the metaverse cryptocurrency coincides with a busy week dominated by the bulls. 

However, it appears that the RNDR price increase is not a result of general market sentiment. So, what could be driving up the value of Render?

RNDR Gains 32% In One Week Price Overview

After a period of sideways movement, the price of RNDR has chosen to go upward to become one of the biggest gainers this past week. According to CoinGecko data, this coin has ballooned by more than 32% in the last seven days.

It is worth noting that most of this price increase happened in two days on the 17th and 18th of May. In an almost vertical rise, RNDR surged in value by more than 20% on Wednesday, May 17. This price rise is understood to be a reaction to the news of Apple launching its VR headset.

RNDR, the utility token of the Render Network, didnt have a great market performance in 2022, sinking as low as $0.325 at some point in the year. However, the cryptocurrency has been on an excellent recovery, gaining nearly 500% since the turn of 2023.

As of this writing, the RNDR token changes hands at $2.36, with a 2.8% price increase in the past 24 hours. That said, price data reveals that the coin has not made any significant movement since Thursday, consolidating around the $2.50 price level.

How Apples VR Headset Will Affect RNDR Price

As earlier mentioned, the price surge experienced by RNDR in the past week was primarily due to the rumors of Apple launching its highly-anticipated VR headset next month. In fact, most metaverse tokens, including MANA, ICP, SAND, etc., enjoyed a bullish run as a result of the news.

#Metaverse tokens are on the rise this week amid rumors about Apple's new AR/VR headset

Got your eyes of any of these coins?https://t.co/bHqPPKWLk7 pic.twitter.com/FPl0854ZPa

CoinGecko (@coingecko) May 18, 2023

The Render Network offers decentralized GPU-base...

A VTuber is a virtual content creator who uses an animated avatar. To become one, create an avatar, use motion capture technology, and produce content.

This is an opinion editorial by Darin Feinstein, the co-founder and co-chairman of Bitcoin mining firm Core Scientific.

The recent surge in transaction volume on the Bitcoin network has sparked conversation and debate about heightened transaction fees and Bitcoin's overall goals and purpose. This has resulted in questions regarding the network's future and its ability to handle the increasing demand.

In response to those questions, it can be helpful to consider the intricacies of Bitcoins transaction volume through an accounting lens, as the Bitcoin network, at its foundation, is an accounting ledger with its data written to a public chain and recorded forever. Through this lens, well delve into why Bitcoins transaction volume matters, how often such surges will occur and whether or not this growth is sustainable.

The Accounting Innovation Of Bitcoin

As an accounting ledger, Bitcoin represents the first true accounting innovation in more than 700 years, marking a transition from the legacy, stakeholder-controlled, private, double-entry accounting systems to a public, triple-entry system.

Triple entry simply means that two-party transactions (debit and credit) are written to a public, immutable ledger (the third entry). Public means that the ledger is accessible at any time by anyone on the Bitcoin network.

The accounting innovation here is simply the removal of stakeholders (humans) in exchange for machines (aka, servers and nodes) that run difficulty-adjusted proof of work (PoW). Bitcoin uses PoW to substantiate the entries, instead of relying on stakeholders who may be biased or incentivized to commit fraud or manipulate the ledgers. This means that the miners and nodes control the network in an unbiased, free-from-manipulation environment, not humans.

In contrast, all legacy accounting technologies relied on trusted third parties, known as the stakeholders. The fatal problem with a stakeholder-controlled system is that humans are flawed, and the ledgers are subject to human error, fraud, censorship and manipulation.

Until Bitcoin, every government, every bank, and every corporation on earth has used private, double-entry accounting systems controlled 100% by the stakeholders. This means that the stakeholders can alter the books and records of all of these legacy systems in secret, away from the public eye. In order to catch fraud, corruption or even error, the entire stakeholder-controlled system including every transaction traced back to its root would need to be audited. This process is time consuming, complicated and cumbersome, and like all...

Conflux (CFX), the token powering Confluxs high throughput, Tree-Graph powered layer-1 blockchain, experienced a rollercoaster ride in a whirlwind of price fluctuations. Last week, it tumbled to a low of $0.20 per token, leaving observers on edge. However, it managed to climb back up over the course of the week, reaching a level of $0.330.

However, the token has faced a downward trajectory in the past four days, resulting in a decrease of over 19% in price. CoinMarketCap data shows that CFX has dipped around 2% in the last 24 hours. Despite this recent dip, optimistic projections for its future price persist.

While it may have encountered some setbacks, Conflux has remained one of the top performers in the past seven days, impressively gaining over 30% during this period. Maintaining a position above the key support level of $0.295, which aligns with the previous weeks high, provides some stability amidst the turbulence.

Whats Driving Conflux (CFX) Growth?

Conflux (CFX) has been making waves with its remarkable on-the-year gains of approximately 1,700%. Naturally, observers are curious about the role of whales in this upward surge, speculating whether they are driving the buying and pumping of the token. While its a possibility, we cant say for certain.

The impressive performance of Conflux coincides with the optimism surrounding Chinas renewed interest in cryptocurrencies. As the country seemingly shifts its stance towards the crypto industry, there are hopes that Conflux will reap the benefits. The project has been actively fostering partnerships with various regional enterprises, positioning itself as a potential frontrunner in meeting regulatory requirements.

Related Reading: XRP Emerges As Top Performing Crypto With 55% Surge Messari Report

Among its notable partnerships, Conflux has joined forces with Little Red Book, often called Chinas equivalent of Instagram. This collaboration opens up exciting opportunities as Little Red Books ma...

Tornado Cash (TORN) has experienced a sudden fall in its market price over the last few hours following news of the DeFi protocol suffering a crypto exploit late yesterday. According to data from CoinMarketCap, Tornado Cash is down 28.25% in the last 24 hours, albeit this only represents a retraced value.

Following news of TORNs attack, the token initially dropped by over 60% before finding support around the price region of $3.86. Since then, TORN has made some upward movement, however not sufficient to cover up the earlier loss.

TORN Governance System Breached: $2M Stolen

Through a malicious governance proposal, a hacker gained control of Tornados Cash Governance, allocating 1,200,000 votes to themselves.

According to Chinese reporter Colin Wu, the hacker used their newly gained control to move a total of 483,000 TORN out of the Tornado Cash governance vault worth about $2 million at the present market price of $4.5.

The hacker then proceeded to deposit 6,000 TORN on the Bitrue exchange and swapped the remaining 379,300 TORN on-chain for 375ETH. Currently, there has been no official statement from Bitrue on this development.

The Tornado Cash attacker obtained a total of 483,000 TORN from the Tornado Cash governance vault, and has deposited 6,000 TORN into Bitrue; sold 379,300 TORN on the chain and exchanged it for 375 ETH (about 680,000 U.S. dollars). The price is US$1.8; there are still 97,700 TORNs

Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 21, 2023

Meanwhile, all TORN investors have been urged to withdraw all their governance-locked funds from the project developers. In addition, the Binance exchange has suspended TORN deposits pending a solution to the governance issue.

Due to circumstances surrounding the protocol, #Binance will tempor...

The woman initially suspected that her husband who earned $3 million per year did not reveal all his assets, which would get split between the two during the divorce.

Tornado Cash DAO was hit by an attack. (Kevin Ku/Unsplash)

A manipulative launch strategy was alleged over how the liquidity pools were structured and how the tokens trickled out.

Ramaswamy stated, Lets make the 2024 election a referendum on fiat currency.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Obi Nwosu, CEO and co-founder of Fedi, explains why it will be clear that Bitcoin will come out on top by the end of this year.

0.00010 BTC = 2.70 USD
1.00 USD = 0.00004 BTC
Converter

The total control over Tornado Cash governance allows the attacker to withdraw all of the locked votes, drain all of the tokens in the governance contract and brick the router.

Zoltan Pozsar, who until recently worked as the managing director of investment bank Credit Suisse, offered his insight into financial markets and the issues that are weakening the dollars dominance around the world.

In his role at Credit Suisse, Pozsars insight into the ins and outs of the legacy financial system and market dynamics was highly sought after. His recent departure from the bank came shortly after it was purchased by UBS in March as an attempt to keep it from collapsing amid existential turmoil for banks around the world. On stage at Bitcoin 2023, Pozsar addressed how U.S. banks have been impacted.

"This is basically an episode where the large banks are largely insulated from the problems," Pozsar said. "It's basically lessons in not being able to run interest rate risk, not knowing how to make a loan that will be weathering a rising interest rate storm.

He described the Federal Reserves responses to these banking failures as only addressing half the problem.

I think it's more like foaming the runway for any of the large banks that might be having problems down the road, he added.

Pozsar was interviewed on stage by BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, who pressed him on whether he owns any bitcoin.

I don't own any, Pozsar responded. I'm observing it. I don't like to dabble in things that I don't understand well.

Pozsar outlined his pessimism that bitcoin could ever really serve as money, as his historical research has shown him that money has to have a direct link to a government to endure. As a fundamentally decentralized, peer-to-peer network, Bitcoin could not support money that fits his definition.

The one thing I will say about bitcoin is that money, if you will, is something that is purely public or a public-private partnership, Pozsar explained. When I look at Bitcoin, its a purely-private initiative. Its clearly lacking a state link. But then again, things are evolving, there are a number of countries that have adopted bitcoin as a legal tender, so things are definitely in flux there.

In his writing, Pozsar has underscored the evolving role that Bitcoin is playing around the world as institution-backed money like the U.S. dollar becomes weaker. At Bitcoin 2023, he listed several global market trends, including the rising economic power of China, that are threatening its role as the global rese...

Hyperbitcoinization is on the horizon, Bitcoin gets a seat on U.S. presidential candidates agendas and Voyagers fund recovery plan approved.

Disclaimer: The Bitcoin Conference and Bitcoin Magazine are both operated by BTC Inc.

The Bitcoin Conference, the world's largest and most prestigious gathering of the Bitcoin industry, is set to take place in Nashville, Tennessee, from July 25-27, 2024. The decision to move the conference to Nashville underscores the organizers' efforts to promote Bitcoin adoption beyond traditional financial centers. With a focus on fostering local adoption, the conference aims to unite thought leaders, industry experts and businesses in exploring the limitless possibilities presented by Bitcoin.

David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin Magazine, expressed his optimism about Nashville's potential for Bitcoin growth, stating, "We believe that Nashville possesses the ideal blend of freedom-loving mindset and entrepreneurial spirit that will enable Bitcoin to thrive." The organizers are actively collaborating with local restaurants and businesses to ensure seamless bitcoin payments, transforming Nashville into a hub of bitcoin acceptance. The initiative seeks to empower both merchants and customers and establish a solid foundation for economic growth.

Mike Germano, President at BTC Inc., highlighted the significance of the conference for Nashville, stating, "We aim to foster a community where Bitcoin payments are widely accepted, unlocking new opportunities and creating a strong foundation for economic growth and preparing the city for bitcoiners to descend next July." The move has been met with enthusiasm by Bill Hagerty, United States Senator of Tennessee, who welcomed the conference, noting, "I couldn't be more excited that the 2024 Bitcoin Conference is coming to Nashville Tennessee."

Beyond the conference sessions, attendees can anticipate networking opportunities, exhibitions showcasing cutting-edge technology and interactive workshops aimed at educating and empowering individuals in the Bitcoin landscape. The inclusive environment fosters collaboration and meaningful connections among beginners and seasoned professionals alike.

Tickets for the conference are now available for purchase on the official conference website, with organizers advising interested individuals and organizations to secure their spots early due to the expected high demand. For sponsorship opportunities, media inquiries, or further information about the Bitcoin Conference, contact media@btcmedia.org.

This weeks Crypto Biz explores Tethers first quarter audit, Ripples partial victory against the SEC, Worldcoin fundraising and Ledgers controversial recovery service.

DIBA, the first Bitcoin NFT marketplace utilizing RGB smart contracts, has officially launched on mainnet. According to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine, the platform also introduces BitMask, an exclusive Bitcoin-only wallet capable of storing unique digital assets (UDAs) such as music and art. The UDAs will be hosted on high availability storage and cloud services provided by Hut 8, a publicly traded bitcoin miner in North America.

DIBA aims to bring Bitcoin utility to the masses by enabling the exchange of UDAs on a decentralized and censorship-resistant network. Notable bitcoin investors, including Tim Draper of Draper Associates and Bill Tai of ACTAI Unicorn Fund, support the venture. Gideon Nweze, founder and CEO of DIBA, expressed his excitement about the launch, stating, "This marks a major milestone in the transition of the internet onto Bitcoin."

Tim Draper also commended DIBA's innovative approach, emphasizing the potential of NFTs on Bitcoin. He said, "What Gideon and the team at DIBA have built is a testament to the potential NFTs on Bitcoin hold in capturing the creative and sovereign spirit of this next generation."

DIBA's partnership with Hut 8 is another example of the optimism surrounding Bitcoin and Layer 1 and 2 protocols. Josh Rayner, VP of High Performance Computing at Hut 8, expressed support for the Bitcoin NFT platform, stating, "We are bullish on Bitcoin and the potential of Layer 1 and 2 protocols, and are proud to support DIBA's Bitcoin NFT platform with high availability storage and cloud services."

According to the press release, the DIBA marketplace utilizes both the RGB smart contract protocol on Bitcoin, as well as the Lightning Network to maximize the efficiency of the marketplaces functions.

In an interview with Cointelegraph during Bitcoin 2023, Fred Pye spoke about how Canadas advanced crypto trading regulation draws investors to the digital assets market.

(Ryan Quintal/Unsplash, Modified by CoinDesk)

Binances partner Latam Gateway has been granted a license to operate as a payment institution and electronic money issuer in Brazil.

Conditions are ripe for a Bitcoin range breakout, but traders fear that a deep correction is due.

The total number of Bitcoin Ordinals has surpassed 8 million since its inception in January.

Ever wondered who invented nonfungible tokens aka NFTs? The timeline includes colored coins, quantum, CryptoPunks and a lot more.

Its always been possible to store arbitrary data alongside blockchain transactions, but NFTs on Monero introduce a slew of new concerns.

A look at the role played by crypto funds in providing essential capital and liquidity, propelling the growth and expansion of the crypto market.

After garnering the required votes, a major proposal has just passed in the KuCoin network. The proposal aimed at raising Terra Classic LUNC burns tax to 0.5%. 

Following the positive results, KuCoin declared increasing the LUNC network burn rate from 0.2% to the proposed 0.5%. 

LUNC Network Burn Tax Spikes On KuCoin

KuCoin took to Twitter to announce the increase in the burn tax. In its announcement, KuCoin stated that it would facilitate the Terra Classic LUNC and TerraClassicUSD (USTC) increase on its platform following the burn tax activation.

Notably, the activation will occur at the designated Terrra Classic block height of 12,902,399 and take effect on May 23. 

Once activated, KuCoin will pay users more for transactions involving the two crypto assets, LUNC and USTC. Apart from the increased payments, the burn rate tax will reduce LUNC supply. 

But theres still a downside to the increased burn rate tax as it will reduce the trading volume. This is why many exchanges rejected such proposals in the past. 

Notably, KuCoin has always supported such increases even when other exchanges delay. For instance, the exchange first supported a September 2022 Terra Classic burn tax of 1.2% even before the proposal passed.   

Other exchanges, including Crypto.com, MEXC, and Binance, only later declared support for the burn tax. 

But after the proposal passed, data implied that the increase reduced the trading volume for LUNC. Many investors stopped trading with the asset due to the spike in fees.

Following the outcome, the LUNC community voted to reduce the burn tax to 0.2%, attracting the support of crypto exchanges such as Binance. 

After the reduction, the Terra Classic community brought up another proposal to increase the burn tax rate, but it wasnt implemented. 

Latest Burn Tax Increase Proposal, 3 Others Gain Massive Support

While other proposals to increase the burn tax after reducing it from 1.2% to 0.2% failed due to several debates and arguments, the latest one received massive support.

<p>Amid the tussle between the bulls and bears in the crypto market over the past week, the circulating supply of both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) has reached record lows, triggering speculation about the potential impact on the cryptocurrency market.</p> <p><a href= "https://twitter.com/santimentfeed/status/1659830319724519425?s=20" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Data</a> provided by Santiment reveals a significant decrease in the amount of BTC and ETH held on exchanges, suggesting a shift in investor behavior.</p> <h2>Bitcoin And Ethereum Supply Plummets On Exchanges</h2> <p>According to Santiments data, the circulating supply of <a href= "https://www.newsbtc.com/bitcoin-news/whale-alert-1750-bitcoin-btc-moved-to-exchange-massive-plunge-incoming/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">BTC on exchanges</a> currently stands at a mere 5.7%, marking its lowest level since December 2017 when the cryptocurrency surged to an all-time high of $20,000.</p> <p>Similarly, the supply of ETH on exchanges has dropped to 10.1%, the lowest since its inception in 2015. This trend indicates that crypto investors are actively buying and withdrawing their coins from exchanges, opting for alternative storage methods.</p> <p>Santiment tweeted earlier today:</p> <blockquote> <p>Bitcoin & Ethereum both continue to quietly see more and more of their existing supplies move into self custody. Though not a perfect indicator, declining coins on exchanges generally hint at future bull runs, given enough time playing out.

Notably, one key reason behind the declining supply of BTC and ETH on exchanges, particularly in the case of Ethereum, is the increasing popularity of staking. Ethereum 2.0s transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism has provided ETH holders with the opportunity to <a href= "https://www.newsbtc.com/news/ethereum-whale-resurfaces-after-2-years/?swcfpc=1" rel="noopener" target="_blank">stake their coins</a> and participate in securing the network while earning rewards.</p> <p>Stakers lock up their ETH in specialized wallets, ensuring its active involvement in the networks operations rather than leaving it idle on exchanges. This shift towards staking is motivated by the desire to earn passive income and contribute to the long-term growth and security of the Ethereum ecosystem.</p> <p>On the other hand, the Bitcoin decrease on exchanges is not so clear, however, the possible reason can be attributed to investors looking to keep their BTC holdings for a long time. This could be due to the feared upcoming global recession which has made many turn to the idea of saving funds for the supposed rainy days.</p> <h2>Implications On The Crypto Market</h2> <p>The dwindling supply of Bitcoin and Ethereum on exchanges could have significant implications for the...

Learn how to maximize the benefits of cloud storage by organizing files, securing data and syncing across devices effectively.

The court case between SEC and Ripple Labs has been ongoing for nearly two and a half years, but a summary judgment ruling could be made any day.

The total value locked (TVL) on the Cardano blockchain has hit a significant milestone after crossing 500 million ADA. This would come just a month and a few days after TapTools predicted an exponential increase in the networks TVL.

In this prediction, TapTools, a Cardano portfolio tracker, also reported different factors that could be pivotal to Cardanos explosive growth in the coming months.

Cardano DeFi Ecosystem Hits 500 Million ADA In TVL

Data from DeFi TVL aggregator DefiLlama reveals that the total value locked on the Cardano network now stands at 505.114 million ADA. This is equivalent to $186.18 million when converted to U.S. dollars.

Source: DefiLlama

This new milestone represents a staggering 91.9% increase in total value locked since the turn of the year. Meanwhile, in the last month, Cardanos TVL has jumped by nearly 8%, indicating a steady adoption of its DeFi ecosystem.

On-chain data shows that Minswap is, by a distance, the leading protocol on the network, with a TVL of $55.56 million. In fact, the decentralized exchange boasts a market share dominance of 29.84%.

Minswap protocol is followed by Indigo, a collateralized debt protocol, with a total value of $28.5 million locked on it. WingRiders, Liqwid, and Djed Stablecoin are three other notable protocols on the Cardano DeFi ecosystem, with TVLs of $17.51 million, $15.42 million, and $13.71 million, respectively.

It is important to note that total value locked is a metric that estimates the amount of cryptocurrency locked in DeFi protocols on a particular blockchain. It is calculated by summing up the value of all the crypto assets locked in various DeFi protocols on a blockchain. TVL can be represented in the native token of a blockchain (as in ADA for Cardano) or in USD.

ADA Price Shows No Significant Action

A skyrocketing total value locked is often an indicator of increased activity in a DeFi ecosystem. However, Cardanos impressiv...

Injective (INJ) is one of the few tokens to have racked up impressive gains in the last week. While most of the assets in the crypto market were marked by insignificant price actions leading to little gains or losses, INJ stood out with an excellent price movement to become one of the biggest weekly gainers. 

According to data from CoinMarketCap, Injectives price gained by 19% in the last seven days boasting of a market performance only beaten by four other tokens RNDR, AGIX, MASK, and CFX in the entire top 100 crypto ranking. 

INJ initially began the week trading around a price region of $6.08 and soon recorded consecutive gains and losses before experiencing a price hike on May 17 to hit a market price of $6.7

Following this price boost, INJ showed signs of consolidation for the next two days before starting its current bullish run.

NFT Surprise Announcement Boosts INJ Price 

Interestingly, the price rally by INJ in the last week appears to be due to an exciting announcement made by the project developers six days ago.

On May 13, the team behind the Injective blockchain tweeted a statement urging the user community to interact more with dApps built on Injective or its L1 chain, stating there could be a chance to receive an NFT-related surprise.

It might be a good idea to interact with dApps built on Injective or the L1 chain itself.

Make a transfer, trade on a dex built on Injective, bridge assets, stake INJ, etc.

Who knows there might be an NFT related surprise in the works

Injective (@Injective_) May 13, 2023

This announcement sparked much excitement within the Injective community, which has been represented not just in price but also in the network activity. 

According to a tweet by @Iryna_Everstake, blockchain manager at network validator service Everstake pool, the Injective blockchain recorded a substantial increase in several network parameters over the last week as follows +688K INJ staked, +470 delegators, +130 new wallets, an...

Amid the prevailing bearish trend in the crypto market, XRP has stayed afloat above other assets with impressive gains. A report from a leading crypto market intelligence product provider, Messari, revealed the Ripple native currency XRP took the lead in the overall crypto market in Q1.

XRP Takes The Lead In Overall Crypto Market

According to data from Messari, XRP outperformed other crypto assets with a 55% surge on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis. 

From the report, the market cap of XRP grew by a whopping 59.9% in the first quarter of the year. The value increased from $17.4 billion on January 1 to $27.4 billion on March 31.

Notably, the growth rate for XRPs market cap exceeded the cumulative crypto market cap that witnessed a 46% surge within the same period. 

Messaris report also showed that XRP kicked off the year with a trading price of $0.35 as of January 1. With the increasing volatility in the crypto market during the beginning of 2023, XRP rallied progressively through the days. As of January 23, XRPs price hit $0.43 before retracting due to the influence of the bears. The token closed in January with a 19.71% increase in value.

The second month wasnt quite eventful for XRP as the price gradually dipped to $0.36 amid the downtrend in the overall crypto market. However, XRP ended February with a 7.27% drop as the price hit $0.37.

Then XRPs price rally took a more aggressive look in March. The price of XRP ranged from the beginning of March. But it gained momentum from March 21 as XRP broke the resistance level at $0.400.

XRP sustained its volatility and pushed higher with a more bullish stance through the remaining days in March. The token rallied beyond the $0.500 region and progressed higher.

Messari noted that XRP hit a 10-month high of $0.5850 on March 29, following a two-week price surge of 56%. This price rally was peculiar to XRP, although most crypto assets posted a decline during t...

Three Arrows Capital is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings and owes an estimated $3.5 billion to creditors.

Chainlink has dropped slightly in the market today as bears seized control of its price. LINKs current price depicts a loss of 87.7% from its all-time high of $52.88 on May 10, 2021.

The asset has been fluctuating between the $6 and $7 price levels since the beginning of May and is currently at the $6 price level. LINK is also recording a sideways trend on the daily chart, and its trading volume has also tanked by over 32%. 

The recent price action is primarily influenced by macroeconomic factors such as inflation, regulatory laws and investor sentiment.

LINK Price Analysis

LINK is in a sideways trend today, forming a red candle on the daily chart. It is trading below its 50-day and 200-Simple Moving Averages (SMA), a short and long-term bearish sentiment.

Also, its Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 41.30 and dropping out of the neutral zone to the oversold region of 30, confirming the bearish trend.

LINKs Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) is just above its signal line and shows convergence, a bearish signal. Also, the MACD indicator displays a negative value.

LINK is just above its nearest support level of $6.362, which has proved critical after the 6.177 price level provided initial support. However, its signals on the daily chart look bearish, hinting at a further price drop for the asset. However, if the bulls mount a rally, LINK will encounter resistance at the $6.753 and the $6.907 price levels.

LINK enjoyed a positive price movement in 2023. However, the bears are currently controlling the market. It will likely drop into an oversold region before the bulls rally again.

Recent Trends On LINKs Network Likely To Affect Its Price

NFTFi is a new concept combining NFTs and decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions. It aims at adding value and liquidity to the growing NFT market.

Chainlink adopted this technological upgrade enablin...

The upcoming app will maintain a Twitter-like centralized feed, allowing users to view content such as text, images and videos shared by followers and recommended accounts.

The author didnt want to give away too many details on the book, but did note that his recounting of the FTX collapse aims to read like a piece of fiction.

Ledger Recover is an over-the-air firmware update allowing users to back up their seed phrases by third-party entities if they opt-in to the new service.

0.00010 BTC = 2.69 USD
1.00 USD = 0.00004 BTC
Converter

According to Strike CEO Jack Mallers, the expansion drive aims to counter the clouded world of crypto exchanges and hidden unregistered licensing regimes, and 1,000 different coins.

Promptly after the funds went missing, Swaprums Twitter, Telegram and GitHub accounts were all deleted; however, its website is still up.

NFTs from Sotheby's Grails Part 1. L: Autoglyph #187, R: Fidenza #725. (Larva Labs/Art Blocks, modified by CoinDesk)

Jack Mallers, founder and CEO of the Chicago-based bitcoin payment provider Strike, speaks Friday at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami Beach. (Frederick Munawa)

Ledgers decision to introduce a third party to your wallet seed phrase created an exploit that could appeal to both governments and hackers.

Shiba Inu remains one of the most popular meme coins but the performance of the cryptocurrency in the last year has been discouraging for holders. Despite remaining the second-largest meme coin, it has continued to decline in price and this has caused the asset to fall below very crucial support. And now that SHIB is now sitting at the $0.000008 level, is it a good time to buy the meme coin?

Shiba Inu Falls Below Critical Level

For Shiba Inu, the $0.000009 price level has served as good support for it through the ups and downs of the crypto market over the last year. This made it the most important point for bears to beat if they were to take control of the digital asset. However, over the last week, SHIB has fallen below $0.000009 which could present a good buying opportunity for the digital asset.

One reason why buying SHIB could be a good play right now is that the developments by the team are yet to reflect in the performance of the coin. Also, with the launch of the four new hubs in Shib: The Metaverse coming soon, the meme coin could see renewed interest and this interest could lead to a price rally.

The market has also been consolidating for a while with the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum trading sideways for the last week. Once this consolidation ends, the likelihood of these large assets rallying upward remains high. And as always, a rally in these top cryptocurrencies would pull the rest of the market up with it.

If Bitcoin were to move above $30,000 again, SHIB could go as high as $0.00001 once more, which would mean a more than 10% gain for investors in the short run. Over the long term, the gains could be higher, assuming that the market has not completely exited its bull trend.

SHIB Could Be A Breakout Star

The Shiba Inu team continues to rapidly develop the ecosystem and the latest in its long line of products is its SHIB-themed cold wallets. These wallets have been in the works for a while and the official SHIB handle confirmed on Twitter that the wallets will be ready for preorder on May 29. The wallets are being developed in partnership with Swiss company Tangem to allow users to hold more than 6,000 coins.

#SHIBARMY! @Tangem is about to unleash SHIB-themed cold wallets! These card-shaped vaul...

The bug only affects the Polygon implementation; v3 is unaffected.

Bakkts chief product officer, Dan OPrey, expressed his optimism about the future of Bitcoin and the companys outlook on regulated markets when he chatted with Cointelegraph at Bitcoin 2023.

The Central Market supplies over 12 million people per month in Argentina. The move will allow companies to accept and pay bills with USDT.

At Bitcoin 2023 in Miami Beach, global bitcoin payments service Strike announced that their service is now available in 65 more countries spread across six continents. This coincides with the introduction of the ability to receive funds in U.S. dollar equivalents, namely USDT. In addition, the app received a major facelift and overhaul that has made the UI cleaner, the UX friendlier and also includes a new logo.

Many of the countries that have been requested by users of Bitcoin Twitter are now able to instantly send and receive money utilizing the Lightning Network. In an interview with Strikes VP of Product, Manuela Rios, she explained that the app now has an effective reach of 3 billion people.

With Send Globally, the value prop is that you send dollars and receive as a local currency directly in a bank account on the other side this ones different what we found through user research that people on the other side in jurisdictions with weak currencies would say Hey this experience is amazing, but can I have a dollar equivalent?

In regards to purchasing Bitcoin, Rios said that globally, you dont see a seamless experience. So the new Strike app also functions as a Lightning wallet where you can buy and sell bitcoin via dollar equivalent rails.

At his speech at Bitcoin 2023, Strike CEO Jack Mallers explained the wider vision of the updates, saying "Were delivering a cash balance that the global south can rely on, and an awesome beautiful punk unconventional black and white brand, as the Fed is driving our own banks insolvent."

He also highlighted the companys response to feedback, displaying a set of tweets asking for LNURL support, shortly after announcing that the new app has LNURL support all usernames@strike.me function as a LNURL as of the launch.

We made a lot of product changes to support what we hope to become an amazing global money app, Mallers said. As a company, we know what were fighting for, we know who we are, we changed the way we looked, but we never changed the way we felt.

In addition to the new features and access, the app includes a simplified sign-up process in order to make signing up easier. The end goal for us is to serve 7-8 billion people, and well be stepping our way to make it to the countries that didnt make it in this MVP, Rios explained.

Rios explained the impact of the launch and additional features, saying that For the Bitcoiners, you can expect a beautiful Lightning wallet and a cost effective way to buy bitcoin, and for the people not yet so familiar with bitcoin, but are familiar with 109% inflation, giving them access to a U.S. dollar equivalent stablecoin is massive now you can save in something that wont be so quickly devalued.&nb...

Security expert Jameson Lopp said some users lost Ethereum tokens because of the lack of a secure storage method.

Seeing crypto and AI as unrelated technologies is a mistake. They are complementary, each improving the other, says CoinDesks Chief Content Officer, Michael Casey.

Best-selling author and journalist Michael Lewis, known for writing The Big Short, Moneyball and The Blind Side, offered his perspective on the current financial landscape and the rapidly-changing world of cryptocurrency on stage today at Bitcoin 2023.

When I first encountered the idea of being able to use the blockchain technology to disintermediate financial intermediaries, I thought, thank God, Lewis said of his realizations when first researching Bitcoin. There are lots of unnecessary hands touching money when financial transactions occur. They've just been kind of hard baked into the system.

As the author of The Big Short, Lewis outlined the fundamental inequalities and short-sighted policies of the contemporary financial system that led to the economic crisis of 2007 and 2008. At Bitcoin 2023, he acknowledged how Bitcoin is designed as an escape from the problems that caused that crisis.

If you go back to Satoshis original paper, you know, line one, paragraph two, you eliminate the need for a trusted financial intermediary, Lewis said. Clearly, the very beginning of the spirit of the enterprise is mistrust of existing financial institutions, well earned mistrust, on the backend of the financial crisis.

Across his books and news reporting, Lewis has been praised for his ability to condense complicated financial concepts into digestible prose and demonstrate systemic issues through the experiences of the individuals within them. This skillset makes him uniquely qualified to digest and interpret the emerging cryptocurrency ecosystem, which experienced unprecedented turmoil last year with the implosion of numerous crypto projects, most notably FTX.

At Bitcoin 2023, he discussed his next book and movie project, which will focus on FTX, and described some of the insight he gained from spending time with former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried before and after its collapse.

"Not in a million years did I think I was going to write about Sam Bankman-Fried," Lewis recalled, adding that he was first asked to meet with Bankman-Fried by a friend on Wall Street, and found himself intrigued by his unique personality. "There's so obviously the potential for a great movie in it... so you want to let people know it's out there."

Lewis was joined on stage by Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX. Hayes asked Lewis if he owned bitcoin, and Lewis quipped that it was in the FTX bankruptcy.

Hayes and Lewis also touched on the current banking crisis, with Lewis sharing the view that things have not really changed in the institutional system since 2008 that, if anything, things are worse for retail investors.

It seems inherently unstable right now, he said. You essentially created a handful of institutions that are too big to fail, and everyone knows their depos...

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the Bitcoin Conference, Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel spoke about the mining companys response to the bear market.

Ethereum gas consumption landscape is transforming significantly as Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplaces no longer dominate the networks gas usage. According to a report by Nansen, a crypto analytics platform, NFTs have fallen behind in doing the most in Ethereum gas fees. 

Notably, while Ethereums transition to proof-of-stake, in an event known as The Merge, is anticipated to address high gas prices, investors are now exploring alternatives like Cardano, which boasts greater cost-efficiency following its recent Hydra upgrade.

Ethereums Gas Consumption Shift

According to data revealed by Nansen on Friday, theres currently a noteworthy shift in Ethereums gas consumption patterns. NFT marketplaces, which once held the top spot, now account for a mere 3% of total gas usage.

Surprisingly, decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap has emerged as the primary gas consumer, representing 31.99% of gas consumption. This shift indicates a diversification in Ethereums transactional activity and a reduction in NFT-related gas usage. Nansen noted:

Gone were the days of NFTs topping the Ethereum gas-consuming charts. This week, of the top 20 gas consumers, OpenSea and Blur accounted for less than 10% combined. And against all gas consumers, the NFT marketplaces were just over 3%. Uniswap in contrast was 10x more 31.99%.

This substantial decline in NFT-related gas consumption can be attributed to various factors, including the networks congestion caused by an influx of meme coin trading, notably the recently hyped frog-themed meme coin PEPE.

This surge in meme coin transactions resulted in heightened gas prices, prompting users to explore alternatives and alleviating the burden on NFT marketplaces.

Navigating the Gas Crisis

Ethereums gas crisis has persisted despite The Merge, which is said to enhance scalability and reduce gas fees by migrating the network to a proof-of-stake consensus model. In response, some investors have sought solace in blockchain platforms offering cost-efficient alternatives.

With its recent Hydra upgrade, Cardano has gained attention for its ability to handle transactions more economically. The implementation of Hydra&...

Former congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard addressed the audience at Bitcoin 2023 today, focusing on the institutional problems with U.S. politics and elected leaders who seek to consolidate power rather than serve constituents.

I served in Congress for eight years and ran for president in 2020, and while we like to have this idea that we have great courageous leaders in Washington unfortunately, thats not the case, Gabbard said. Ultimately, theyre driven by a fear of losing power and losing control and, at the heart of it, theyre afraid of us. Theyre afraid of a free society.

In particular, she highlighted the Biden administrations exploration of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), underscoring how such a project would be antithetical to the privacy- and freedom-preserving qualities of cash transactions. As outlined in its white paper by Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-To-Peer Electronic Cash System, Bitcoin was designed to preserve these qualities in a digital way.

The Biden administrations move toward implementing a central bank digital currency is their latest effort towards exerting control and taking away our freedom, Gabbard said. No matter how many flowery words they use to deny that there is ill intent no matter how many times they say, Hey this is for your own good... But ultimately, we know this is about their insatiable mission and desire for total control.

She also suggested that those in power are combative toward or disinterested in Bitcoin because it cannot be manipulated by any third parties.

You would think they would be interested in how Bitcoin is transforming the lives of people around the world, but they dont actually care about people, she said.

A proposal to unify branding between the Mantle network and BitDAO passed with overwhelming support.

The total value locked in DeFi protocols fell below $50 billion after nearly a month of bullish price action.

The recovery in Bitcoin and most major altcoins halted near respective overhead resistance levels, indicating that the bears are active at higher levels.

According to court documents shared by James Filan, the Hinman materials will likely be unsealed by June 13.

Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)