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Worldcoin’s Meteoric 400% Surge With Sora AI Launch

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Sam Altman’s Worldcoin has skyrocketed to a whopping 400% YTD, thanks to OpenAI’s new launch, Sora. The latest AI model can generate a 1-minute video with just text prompts and is reportedly garnering rave reviews across social media circles. Amidst Sora’s release, Worldcoin’s native token, WLD, is up by more than 150% in the last week to trade at $8.6.

Additionally, the World App, the first wallet built for the project, passed 1 million daily users this week, hitting a record high, and is now “3.5 million unique humans strong,” according to the Worldcoin Foundation.

Altman, the man behind OpenAI and Worldcoin, has spearheaded two of the most groundbreaking technologies: artificial intelligence and blockchain. His crypto venture operates Orbs, custom imaging devices developed for the Worldcoin project by Tools for Humanity [TFH].

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Worldcoin's Meteoric 400% Surge With Sora AI Launch 2

In October, the team declared that Orb device operators would receive payments in WLD tokens rather than USDC. This strategic shift comes as the circulating supply of WLD tokens crosses 1% of its total 10 billion token supply. WLD’s explosive rally has generated windfalls among 3AC creditors.

Worldcoin’s Unexpected Benefactors

3AC is one of the prominent investors in the Worldcoin project, and the token’s rally has brought some solace to its creditors. The official liquidator of the bankrupt crypto hedge fund, Teneo, has unexpectedly become the biggest benefactor. Data from Scopescan revealed that Teneo’s WLD wallet address crossed a staggering $900 million.

Ecstatic about the price increase, Zhu Su, former CEO of 3AC, posted, “Got hated on a lot for this Worldcoin investment in 2021. I remember the hit pieces on it were so bad most of the Seed Rd refused to tweet to support it.”

According to earlier reports, Three Arrows Capital owed creditors approximately $3.3 billion. Last year, a British Virgin Islands court took a significant step by freezing assets exceeding $1 billion belonging to the founders of 3AC, effectively preventing them from transferring or selling their assets.

Teneo, having received approval from the Singapore High Court, is actively investigating 3AC’s local assets, including bank accounts, real estate, and cryptocurrencies. The liquidator has taken control of a minimum of $40 million of Three Arrows Capital’s assets, although this constitutes only a fraction of the total owed to creditors.

MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor Vows To HODL: Bitcoin Emerges As Ultimate Asset

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The founder of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, has made it explicitly clear that there is no intention to offload any of the Bitcoins owned by the company soon. The influx of capital from traditional financial systems into digital ones through ETFs, according to him, strengthens Bitcoin’s position as more valuable than gold, real estate, or even the S&P Index.

Saylor told Bloomberg TV about the key role played by spot ETFs in bringing institutional capital into Bitcoin’s ecosystem. He spoke about billions of dollars moving daily from analog to digital economies, something that denotes a major shift in how capital works.

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Bonanza

As TronWeely reported previously, MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings increased when the cryptocurrency almost reached the $53,000 level. The company generated an unbelievable profit of over $4 billion as its holdings exceeded $10 billion. An investor presentation showed that in 2023 it had accumulated a stash of 190,000 Bitcoins through strategic buying.

By raising capital market activities to secure 30,555 BTC worth $1.2 Billion in Q4 FY’23, Microstrategy drove its strategy for bitcoin accumulation further. Besides these purchases, the company also spent $13.4 million of excess cash to buy 350 more Bitcoin. In line with its policy of amassing BTC throughout 2024, Microstrategy picked up another batch of BTC valued at $37.2 million amounting to 850 BTC from excess cash reserves.

However, Bitcoin’s highly profitable gains may encourage some investors to sell, but Saylor is not willing to do that. Bitcoin serves as the ultimate exit strategy. In his eyes, Bitcoin’s market value surpasses one trillion dollars, thus it directly competes with other assets that are known for their technical superiority.

Saylor believes that Bitcoin’s superiority will keep on drawing capital out of traditional assets. He maintains that given Bitcoin’s technical merits as compared to other asset categories, there is not much logic in detaching one’s self from the digital currency in favor of worse alternatives. Bitcoin for Saylor and MicroStrategy is not simply an investment—it represents a belief beyond the realms of common financial wisdom.

Nevertheless, this is only the starting point of Saylor’s unwavering belief in Bitcoin’s supremacy amidst broader changes in the cryptocurrency market. With institutions getting more interested and traditional barricades being shattered, Bitcoin’s domination appears to be unstoppable.

Related Reading | Circle Ceases USDC Support on TRON: TRX Holds Strong Amid Transition

TRON Crisis: Sun’s $260M Wallet Mystery Unfolds

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TRON founder Justin Sun is in the limelight after a major stablecoin issuer ceased USDC support on the blockchain. As the crypto community speculates over the next course of events, data analysis tool Lookonchain reported that an anonymous whale suspected to belong to the crypto entrepreneur deposited 90 million USDT to Binance. Subsequently, the wallet known as “0x7a95” withdrew 10,136 ETH [$29.76 million] and 40 million USDT from the crypto exchange. So far, the whale has bought 91,316 ETH worth nearly $260 million from Binance and other DEXs.

In the past 32 hours, another unknown wallet named TWGHNc” bought a total of 54,721 ETH ($154.4M) from Binance and DEX. This wallet also withdrew 500 million USDT from HTX a day before. “Maybe no one except Justin Sun can withdraw so much USDT from HTX, a crypto exchange affiliated with him,” Lookonchain stated.

Interestingly, the transactions of wallet “TWGHNc” are highly consistent with “0x7a95.” “This seems like too much of a coincidence,” Lookonchain noted.

TWGHNc deposited 5.41million USDT to HTX on Feb 7 and 0x7a95 withdrew 1,100 ETH from HTX on Feb 8. TWGHNc deposited 50M USDT to Binance on Feb 1 and 0x7a95 withdrew 9,959 ETH from Binance on Feb 12. TWGHNc deposited 200 million USDT into Binance on Feb 18. On the same day, 0x7a95 withdrew 29,875 $ETH ($84.3M) and 100M $USDT from Binance.

While there is a strong possibility that the wallet might be related to the TRON founder based on on-chain data, Lookonchain stated that there is no definitive proof that it belongs to him and that “everyone can have their own opinions.”

TRON On The Verge Of Regulatory Chokehold?

The new developments come after stablecoin issuer Circle announced its decision to withdraw support for its USDC [US Dollar Coin] token on the Tron blockchain network. Users have until Feb 25 to move their USDC tokens on the TRON blockchain to other networks. “Our decision to discontinue support for USDC on TRON is the result of an enterprise-wide approach that involved the business organization, compliance, and other functions across our company,” as per the official statement.

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TRON Crisis: Sun's $260M Wallet Mystery Unfolds 4

Circle’s decision has sparked speculation that both TRON and Sun are next in line of fire over compliance-related issues. Already battling the SEC, TRON Foundation and its founder filed for dismissal of SEC claims, arguing improper application of securities laws, overstepping jurisdiction, and lack of fair notice.

The regulator filed suit against the defendants in March 2023 for selling unregistered securities and for the sale and promotion of TRX [TRON] and BBT [BitTorrent].

VanEck’s HODL ETF Sees Massive Spike in Trading Volume

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VanEck’s HODL, an American-listed bitcoin ETF, saw its trading volume take off sharply on Tuesday as retail investors poured into the fund. The ETF that tracks the spot price of bitcoin saw volumes over $400 million, a 2,200% rise from its daily average of $17 million. The move came ahead of scheduled fee reduction for the fund, which will lower its expense ratio from 0.25% to 0.20% on Wednesday.

11 bitcoin ETFs were given the green light by the SEC on January 10th, 2024, after years of regulatory uncertainty and delays. The objective of the fund is to give investors access to the largest and most liquid cryptocurrency without any need for them to purchase, store, or secure it themselves.

In the case of HODL, the third-highest bitcoin ETF trading volume was recorded on Tuesday, as per blockworks data. This followed behind GBTC and IBIT by Grayscale and BlockRock, respectively, which are leading in this field. Moreover, the number of its shares has grown to almost $200 million by February 20th, thereby making it one of the most capital-rich Bitcoin ETFs ever.

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Source: Blockworks.co

ETF Surge Sparks Retail Investor Speculation

Though the sudden jump in HODL’s volume is not clear, some analysts think it might have been driven by retail investors that social media or online platforms could have influenced. Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated on X that the volume came from 32K individual trades rather than a single large buyer.

Given how sudden and explosive the increase in the number of trades was (500 trades Friday, 50,000 trades today), I’m wondering if some Reddit or TikTok influencer type recommended them to their followers. Feels retail army-ish, said Balchunas.

In the stock market, as well as in the crypto market, retail investors have been widely recognized for inciting huge movements by collaborating together on platforms such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets or TikTok’s CryptoTok. In January 2024, a group of small traders made the shares of GameStop, a game retailer that was already struggling, shoot up in price dramatically through buying call options and squeezing out short sellers.

The rise in HODL’s volume shows how bitcoin ETFs are becoming popular among investors who prefer regulated channels of investing in this digital asset. Investors have poured billions into Bitcoin ETFs ever since they were launched to cash on its price ascent and volatility.

Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, has been on a bull run since late 2023 and hit new highs above $52,000 in February 2024. The digital currency has been helped by a number of things, including more institutional adoption, regulating clarity, as well as invention and scarcity.

Related Reading | Circle Ceases USDC Support on TRON: TRX Holds Strong Amid Transition

Dogecoin On Fire: Unstoppable With 1M Daily Transactions

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Dogecoin has come a long way from being just a meme coin to becoming one of the most actively traded crypto assets, even outpacing some of its peers. Data from InToTheBlock revealed a notable trend: since the 30th of January, DOGE has initiated and processed more than 1 million transactions daily without any interruptions.

In a testament to its growing popularity as a token of substantial usability in the mainstream space, luxury car producer Ferrari recently announced integrating DOGE as a means of payment in the US. Bitpay is expected to also act as a settlement agent for payments made in DOGE.

Enrico Galliera, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer of Ferrari, stated that this decision was made in response to customer requests and market trends. Ferrari’s commitment to innovation and catering to the needs of its clients is evident in this groundbreaking move.

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Dogecoin On Fire: Unstoppable With 1M Daily Transactions 7

Starting its journey as a spoof of Bitcoin, DOGE swiftly gained the ranks as one of the leading altcoins, thanks to its active community and host of celebrity endorsements, particularly from billionaire Elon Musk.

Ferrai’s addition has sparked excitement in the community. The Italian automobile firm became the second car manufacturer to integrate payment using Dogecoin, just after electric car maker Tesla. With this, DOGE now joins the likes of crypto behemoths Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDC as payment options for customers looking to acquire Ferrari with crypto in America.

Dogecoin: More Than Just a Meme

The adoption rate skyrocketed to 86% as newly onboarded users engaged in their first transactions, according to previous insights from IntoTheBlock. This surge in activity is attributed to the renewed interest in Doginals, sparked by the release of Doom on the Dogecoin chain, and rumors surrounding Xpayments potentially attracting new users to DOGE.

Despite a muted price action, the popular meme coin continues to attract new users, defying market expectations. A recent analysis by well-known data aggregator Santiment found a notable surge in non-zero wallets, with roughly 414,000 new wallets added in just two weeks, predominantly holding 0.001-1 DOGE. This represents a 7.2% increase since January 22nd, showcasing the fastest growth in Dogecoin’s decade-long history.

Worldcoin Soars: 1 Million Users Propel Growth

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The Worldcoin (WLD) token has catapulted into the spotlight with a staggering 141% surge in just seven days, marking a remarkable milestone for the project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. This surge follows the achievement of surpassing 1 million daily active users on its crypto wallet application, the “World App,” as announced on Feb. 18.

Since its inception in July 2023, Worldcoin, spearheaded by Altman and Alex Blania, has aimed to revolutionize digital identity verification while advocating for a global Universal Basic Income. By incentivizing users to verify their identities through iris scanning in exchange for its native WLD token, Worldcoin seeks to address socio-economic disparities on a global scale.

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Source: X

Despite regulatory uncertainties surrounding its operations, WLD token’s meteoric rise underscores growing investor confidence in its vision. The recent surge in the value of the WLD token mirrors broader market trends, reflecting a heightened interest in cryptocurrencies worldwide.

As Worldcoin continues to gain traction, its success not only highlights the potential of blockchain technology to drive social change but also prompts discussions on the future of decentralized finance and inclusive economic systems. In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, Worldcoin stands at the forefront, poised to redefine the way we perceive and interact with currency in the modern world.

Worldcoin’s Loan Strategy: 25M WLD Tokens at Stake

The Worldcoin Foundation has announced a significant strategic shift in its payment system for Orb device operators, opting to reward them with WLD tokens instead of USDC. This transition aligns with the project’s milestone of surpassing 1% of its total token supply, with 134 million WLD tokens currently in circulation. Out of this, 100 million WLD tokens have been allocated as loans to market makers, while 34 million have been granted to users and Orb operators.

Notably, the circulating supply is expected to decrease by up to 25 million WLD as loans mature by October 24, 2023. World Assets Ltd., Worldcoin’s subsidiary, has extended loan agreements with reduced amounts to enhance market stability. Despite regulatory scrutiny, the firm emphasizes the crucial role Orb operators play in identity verification, as reported by TWJ.

This shift underscores Worldcoin’s commitment to innovation and signals a new era in digital currency rewards for its operators.

Coinbase Commerce Overhauls Payment Strategy, Drops Native Bitcoin Support

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Coinbase, one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges, is removing native payments in Bitcoin from its merchant’s platform. The announcement was made by Lauren Dowling, head of product at Coinbase Commerce, through X (Twitter).

The operational difficulties, such as cryptocurrency price fluctuations risk, manual reconciliation of incorrect remittances, and limited range of supported currencies, led the company to look for other approaches. Therefore, they have decided to create an open on-chain payment protocol built on top of smart contracts and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) tools, to simplify on-chain trade.

Dowling said:

We saw an opportunity to build an open onchain payments protocol leveraging smart contracts and other EVM tools to enable seamless onchain commerce without the operational and financial burdens of the old system.

Every customer using the self-storage EVM wallet can employ it as a payment method in the new system. Efficiency is underscored on this platform by enabling quick checkouts via native assets or ERC-20 tokens on Layer2 solutions. Moreover, clients have an opportunity to make their payments using assets that are maintained at Coinbase, which include Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Dogecoin.

This upgraded Commerce product will push payment details on-chain, support a broad range of assets across different networks like Base, Polygon, and Ethereum, among others, and automatically convert payments into USDC stablecoin at a fixed conversion rate for merchants.

Coinbase Faces Backlash

This decision, however, was not taken lightly by the Bitcoin community. Joe Nakamoto, an independent commentator on Bitcoin, expressed his disappointment and instead advocated for the integration of the Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN). The merchant transactions in developing countries are said to have been widely adopted through LN as reflected in Nakamoto’s personal experiences across regions.

Therefore, Nakamoto pointed out that Coinbase’s approach was ineffective and proposed that it would have been more meaningful if the company had given priority to Layer 2 solutions of bitcoin, particularly in light of limited access to finance.

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Other members from the community also made similar remarks cautioning Coinbase on its profit-driven objectives rather than considering the ethos of cryptocurrency. Some even accused the company of abandoning its original mission and warned that this could result in reduced market share as well as a lack of trust among users. There were many appeals for the adoption of bitcoin layer 2 solutions like lightning network with users suggesting their alternative payment processors such as BitPay.

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Coinbase is currently under fire and may need to rethink its plan as it relates to the wider aims of the cryptocurrency community. However, the termination of Bitcoin as a means of payment by Coinbase represents a shift in its way of doing cryptographic commerce, but the full effects are not yet clear.

Cardano Sets the Stage for Bullish Breakout After Impressive Q4 Surge

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In a recent X post shared by crypto analyst Ali Martinez, anticipation for an early Cardano breakout is stirring within the cryptocurrency community. Martinez suggests that if historical patterns repeat themselves, Cardano’s native token ADA could surge to $0.80, retrace to $0.60, and then embark on a bullish trajectory towards $8 by January 2025.

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According to the previous insight shared on February 11th, Martinez has outlined an area of substantial resistance for ADA between the price levels of $0.54 and $0.56, wherein around 50,000 addresses are holding nearly 2 billion ADA. Breaking through this key area of resistance could pave the way for a bullish ascent towards $0.68.

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Currently, ADA has succeeded in breaking the resistance to the upside, as the price now lies at $0.595914. The token has a 24-hour trading volume of $1.37 billion, with a market capitalization of $20.15 billion, and the ADA price reflects a 2.36% increase in the last 24 hours.

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Source: CoinMarketcap

Cardano (ADA) Impressive Q4 Surge

Recent data, sourced from a Messari report, throws light on the significant growth of Cardano as compared to the overall cryptocurrency market. In the fourth quarter (Q4), ADA surged an exceptional 127.2% compared to the market, up just 53.8%. The change year-over-year (YoY) for ADA is astonishing, standing at 145.2%. This incredible surge of ADA year over year can be attributed to many purposes, such as settlement of network fees, staking, and participation in-network consensus.

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However, with the significant price hike, the ADA revenues in USD have surged up to 66.7% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), while the ADA revenues have also grown by 10.6% over the same period. The Treasury balance within Cardano has now grown to 1.43 billion ADA, showing a growth of 2.6% quarter-over-quarter, whereas the treasury is also getting 20% of the transaction fee.

Cardano network activity indicates a promise of QoQ growth of up to 10.9% in average daily transactions. Most importantly, the QoQ growth in daily active addresses has risen above 1.6%, which fundamentally points to more “power users” interacting with the network. The average fee per transaction in USD showed a 50.4% growth quarter over quarter, while there was no change on average in the ADA denomination, proving the impact of price dynamics of ADA on dynamics in fees.

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Staking still counts as a key part of the Cardano ecosystem, seeing as the number of stake pools starts to plateau while delegators increase. The Cardano Foundation’s delegation strategy now broadens further to offer support to single and multi-pool operators, moving on towards an even more diversified ecosystem.

The total value locked in all protocols and decentralized finance (DeFi) projects in the broader Cardano ecosystem saw a 166% surge, quarter on quarter, while the stablecoin TVL went up 37%. Prominent developments, such as Minswap and Liqwid Finance projects, have gone on to command high activity that sums up Cardano’s increasing prominence in the DeFi space.

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Cardano Sets the Stage for Bullish Breakout After Impressive Q4 Surge 20

However, with the implementation of new stablecoins, scaling infrastructure getting introduced, and ongoing developments such as Mithril and SanchoNet everything was adding up to make Cardano a prominent blockchain platform. These advancements align with the ecosystem’s commitment to decentralization and community-driven governance, as demonstrated by initiatives like Project Catalyst.

Cardano has seen a lot of development and growth throughout the past until now in Q4, thus positioning Cardano for broadening into newer territories and innovations through the new year. As the crypto community continues to hold its breath watching Cardano, the possibilities for a bullish breakout are quite high given a combination of technical developments, engaging with the community, and market dynamics.

Cardano (ADA) Eyes $1: Tracing the Timeline to Achievement

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Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson has commended the network’s expansion, despite anticipation among ADA supporters for a possible price surge. During his speech on Wednesday, Hoskinson cited a data from blockchain analytics company Messari, which said that in 2023, Cardano’s total value locked (TVL) climbed by 160% from quarter to quarter and that it rose in ranking from 34th to 11th.

Hoskinson underlined the importance of these numbers, saying they show how the Cardano network is becoming more and more widely used. Additionally, he mentioned that the ADA price rose by 127% on a quarterly basis, beating the whole cryptocurrency market by 53%, while the stablecoin value surged by 37% on an annual basis.

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Cardano (ADA) Eyes $1: Tracing the Timeline to Achievement 22

Hoskinson also emphasized the network’s strength, active addresses, and the rising average daily transaction count. He emphasized that the network’s long-term prospects are bright because it is still expanding and becoming more saturated.

Exploring Cardano (ADA)

Cardano is currently trading at $0.576, up 3.07% over the previous day. It has a $20.4 billion market capitalization. The coin’s inability to overcome the $1 barrier has sparked discussion over when ADA might return to this significant achievement.

Prominent Cardano proponent Dan Gambardello, the creator of Crypto Capital Venture, has sparked debate by asserting that it is unlikely that ADA will reach $1 prior to Bitcoin’s upcoming halving event in April 2024. His remarks coincide with growing conjecture on the altcoin’s potential to overtake Bitcoin’s surge past $52,000.

On another note, Cardano (ADA) has seen a spectacular rebound in value in the last several months after a protracted decline. Though there is hope for ADA’s imminent breakthrough, the state of the market at the moment—which is shaped by things like the SEC’s acceptance of Bitcoin ETFs—presents difficulties.

Scalability issues have been present with Cardano (ADA) from its launch. Users of the blockchain have identified technological obstacles that strain the systems and reduce the blockchain’s performance.
When the network is under more stress, thousands of users have reported seeing a degradation in service. Moreover, the chain of the Ouroboros Procol does not have basic support for scalability. Prominent analysts have further chastised Cardano for having a lower throughput than competing blockchains.

Coinbase’s 2023: A Year Of Growth, $1B in Earnings

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Coinbase Global, Inc. today announced the publication of its shareholder letter for the fourth quarter and full year. The letter underlines that 2023 was a very important year for the company since they showed strong financial results that were registered, launched many product innovations, and generally devoted to regulatory clarity within the cryptocurrency space, mostly in the United States.

Throughout the year, the company demonstrated the aforementioned operational excellence, which resulted in a net income of $95 million for the full year and positive Adjusted EBITDA in all four quarters totaling almost $1 billion. The company’s diversification of revenue streams in subscription and services revenue of $1.4 billion attributed to a total revenue base of $3.1 billion by the close of 2023. Also, taking into account the balance sheet of Coinbase, it held total USD resources at $5.7 billion and managed to decrease total debt by 12% in a year, which overall shows healthy financials.

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On the innovation side of products, the company speeded its product velocity and launched new offerings, including Coinbase International Exchange, derivative products through Coinbase Financial Markets, Base, a layer-2 network that is designed to improve the transaction speed and reduce the cost. Additionally, the company expanded its operations globally, obtaining licenses or registrations in six new markets.

Coinbase Strategic Priorities for 2024

Looking to 2024, Coinbase has put forward three key areas in which it will focus. First, driving up revenue is through improved core trading capabilities and increased utility of USDC. Lastly, it will work on the possibility of crypto usage in payments using USDC and Base. Lastly, the company will always keep on fighting for regulatory clarity within the industry.

Challenges in the United States, however, remain despite advances worldwide in regulatory clarity. Coinbase has supported legislative efforts and initiatives to enhance crypto-friendly policies alongside other industry participants.

For example, it contributed to Fairshake Super PAC and also helped found Stand With Crypto—a grassroots movement pushing for pro-crypto policies. Another source of regulatory clarity comes from the ongoing legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Though uncertain, yet the company is determined to get a positive ruling.

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