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Shiba Inu Faces Heavy Sell-Offs Due To This

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Selling pressure intensifies for popular meme coin Shiba Inu as bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital transferred copious amounts of cryptocurrencies to Coinbase, in a desperate bid to boost liquidity.

This has been revealed by blockchain analyst PeckShield. In the tweet shared by the platform, it was found that Voyager shifted 300 trillion SHIB tokens that are worth $3.7 million, 4,000 ETH worth $6.6 million, and 5 million VGX valued at $2 million to Coinbase.

Interestingly, just a few hours before the transfer, the address that send the tokens to Coinbase received 68 trillion Shiba Inu, about $820,000, from a dormant 0x31FC address.

Two years back, this address received 68 trillion SHIB at a price of $528 and hold on to them since then.

At present, Voyager still owns $631 million worth of crypto assets, with SHIB accounting for the third highest value.

Two weeks ago, the distressed crypto firm moved 250 billion SHIB tokens, worth approximately $3.4 million, to Coinbase, raising alarm bells.

Many industry experts raised questions about the future of Voyager Digital and its potential impact on the crypto market, as numerous entities and wallets linked with the bankrupt exchange move funds in and out of different exchanges.

As of now, one cannot deduce exactly whether there will be a sell-off but the fear remains. In July 2022, Voyager filed for bankruptcy after Three Arrows Capital was unable to repay $650 million in loans.

Now-defunct crypto exchange FTX initially offered to bail out, a deal that ultimately fell through.  

Currently, Binance.US decided to acquire the firm.

Shiba Inu Added To Robinhood Web3 Wallet

A sell-off might be prevented if Voyager holds onto its Shiba Inu until Binance acquires the business and secures regulatory approval. It was recently reported that the majority of Voyager account holders approved of the takeover by BinanceUS.

That said, SHIB has been added to the self-custody Robinhood wallet along with leading crypto such as Polygon [MATIC], Solana [SOL], USDC, etc.

As reported by TronWeekly, the crypto exchange revealed that over 1 million users have signed up for the waitlist and it is now available globally via the Apple App store and downloaded in more than 130 nations.

At the time of writing this post, SHIB was trading at $0.00001194, struggling to hold the key support at $0.000012 in the 1-day chart.

This Ethereum L-2’s DEX Stole $100K User Funds

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Ethereum’s first L-2 solution Arbitrium has come under the limelight after its newly launched DEX ArbiSwap is suspected to have rug-pulled users by removing over $100,000 from the platform’s liquidity pools.

Over the last 24 hours, ARBI tokens plummeted from $1.5 to worth a fraction of a cent at press time. On-chain data also shed light on the rogue developer’s action.

It showed around 1 billion fake tokens were minted, and then swapped for USD Coin [USDC] and then for roughly 69 ether [ETH].

According to reports, the fact that the liquidity pools were mostly under the control of developers might have made it easy to shut shop and escape.

For those new, Liquidity pools refer to the token pairs held by smart contracts on decentralized exchanges, with developers initially seeding both sides of a token pair.

Only $4 million was available on ArbiSwap in the early hours of Thursday morning in Europe, according to blockchain data from DEXTools. After the service’s February launch, its total locked value swiftly increased to $4.4 million [TVL].

Users’ immediate interest in ArbiSwap was probably sparked by the DEX, which touted offering holders of ARBI 100% of all revenue made on its platform in exchange for their ARBI holdings.

The above action is a classic rug pull: developers set up a functioning decentralized finance application, use social media to promote it, then create a token and list it on a decentralized exchange [DEX].

The developers close business, reduce liquidity, and vanish after investors buy the tokens in the hope of a profitable investment.

Another Ethereum NFT Project’s Action Sparks Rug Pull Claims

After earning more than $5 million in ETH in last year’s mint, Friendsies, an Ethereum NFT project by the venerable art team FriendsWithYou, has made an important announcement.

The team behind the Ethereum project announced recently that it would “halt” all future ambitions for the project before reportedly removing their Twitter account, which sparked claims of a “rug pull.”

Currently, some community members are putting out a plan to take over and carry on with the project.

The now-deleted tweet thread stated, “As the project founders, we have decided that it would be better to put a halt on [Friendsies] and all future digital items for the time being.

Polygon, Shiba Inu Now Available On Robinhood Wallet: Details

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Polygon [MATIC], Shiba Inu [SHIB], Solana [SOL], etc are among the crypto assets that have been added to Robinhood Wallet for all iOS users globally, the company announced via a blog post.

The crypto exchange revealed that over 1 million users have signed up for the waitlist and it is now available globally via the Apple App store where it has already been downloaded in more than 130 nations.

Robinhood Wallet is a multi-chain, self-custody, Web3 wallet that enables users to hold and trade cryptocurrencies, and connect to a number of decentralized applications [dapps].

Since the time it entered the beta era last September, the crypto wallet has undergone several notable changes based on customer feedback.

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Polygon, Shiba Inu Now Available On Robinhood Wallet: Details 2

In addition to Polygon, Robinhood Wallet now supports Ethereum and more than 50 ERC tokens, such as SHIB, SOL, UNI, USDC, and many others without the need for a waitlist or invitation code.

We’ve added support for NFTs on both Ethereum and Polygon, so users are able to safely view and store their favorite collections. 

According to Johann Kerbrat, general manager of Robinhood Crypto, the response to Robinhood Wallet has been overwhelmingly positive when it initially debuted in beta. The startup wants to make Robinhood the most dependable, affordable, and user-friendly gateway to cryptocurrency.

Besides iOS users, the firm also stated that Android compatibility will arrive later in 2023.

The partnership between Robinhood and Polygon began in August 2022, when the platform implemented support for MATIC deposits and withdrawals on the Polygon proof-of-stake [PoS] chain.

Robinhood’s First Non-Custodial Web3 Wallet Was On Polygon

Then in Sept 2022. the trading platform tapped Polygon over Ethereum for its first non-custodial crypto wallet.

That being said, the leading layer-2 scaling protocol for Ethereum has rolled out its first decentralized ID product powered by ZK proofs.

After nearly a year of announcement, Polygon launched a zero-knowledge decentralized identity solution to the public.

The new ID service utilizes zero-knowledge proofs [ZK proofs] that use cryptographic techniques to allow users to verify their identity online without the help of any third party.

It also claimed that is its first ZK-based digital ID tool that allows users to hold credentials locally on handheld devices such as smartphones, and that users will no longer need passwords

The team further stated that Polygon ID was built to “solve the issue of digital trust.”

Deribit’s Bitcoin Volatility Futures: Simple Alternative To Complex Options Strategies

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In the most recent update, Deribit is set to introduce bitcoin (BTC) volatility futures, presenting an uncomplicated alternative to digital asset investors to safeguard themselves against market fluctuations, in contrast to the usual options, according to the latest report.

Headquartered in Panama City, Panama, Deribit is the world’s largest cryptocurrency options exchange by volume and open interest, with approximately 90% market share in Bitcoin and Ethereum options. The exchange also offers select futures on cryptocurrencies.

Alternative For Managing the Risk Of Bitcoin’s Volatility

Deribit will shortly make available futures associated with their forward-thinking bitcoin volatility index (DVOL) under the ticker BTCDVOL, disclosed the exchange’s Chief Commercial Officer, Luuk Strijers, on March 1st, with the launch scheduled for the end of March.

According to the report, DVOL, launched in 2021, gauges bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility through Deribit’s options order book. Implied volatility shows the expected price turbulence in the options market over a specific period. 

Instead of predicting price direction, volatility trading bets on the asset’s future stability. Traders can now buy and sell volatility directly, similar to bitcoin futures, without complex options strategies that involve buying and selling options at different strike prices with a high-risk tolerance. 

The product could attract institutional and retail investors, like Cboe’s VIX futures, which track the market’s expectation for volatility in the S&P 500 over the next 30 days.

According to Strijers, DVOL futures offer a unique and different approach for traders to manage risk and take advantage of market volatility. This new product particularly appeals to those who want to gain exposure to BTC volatility without the complexity of options strategies. 

The report stated that Deribit users would initially only have access to one-month expiry futures, but the exchange plans to expand the offering to five expiries later. These volatility futures are linear, meaning that the payoff is linearly related to the spot price of the underlying asset. 

However, DVOL futures, like other derivatives, are leveraged products that can magnify both gains and losses. The futures will be priced, margined, and settled in Circle’s U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDC.

In addition to the new product launch, last month, Deribit announced that it had selected Eventus’ Validus platform to provide market abuse monitoring on the exchange.

However, the launch of DVOL futures provides a more accessible way for digital asset investors to hedge against market volatility without understanding the complexities of options strategies. 

Related Reading | Solana CEO Unveils Plan To Improve Network Upgrades 

Ethereum’s Non-Exchange Addresses Surpass 25M For The First Time Since 2016

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Santiment, a blockchain analytics firm, has reported that Ethereum has quietly broken a 7-year record over the weekend. According to the insights provided by Santiment, the top 10 non-exchange Ethereum addresses now collectively hold over 25 million ETH, a figure not seen since 2016.

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Source: Santiment

While this news may be welcomed by some, others are expected to voice their concerns over ETH centralization. The fact that a handful of addresses hold such a significant portion of the cryptocurrency could be seen as a threat to the decentralized nature of the blockchain.

However, it’s worth noting that the number of large whale addresses has actually been declining. There are currently just 124 addresses holding 100,000 or more Ethereum, which is the lowest number since November 2018. It is a marked decrease from the peak of 176 whale addresses seen in July 2019.

In addition, it appears that ETH spent is still dominant for Ethereum, outpacing other tokens like Wrapped ETH, USD Coin, and Tether. It is generally expected, but the lead is expanding as of late. Analysts predict that an increase in USDT and USDC ETH spent could be a positive sign that the markets are about to pick up.

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Source: Santiment

Ethereum (ETH) Starts 2023 Strong 

Ethereum has seen a strong start to 2023, rallying alongside the broader cryptocurrency market. At present, it is trading a 40% increase since the beginning of the year.

Despite the positive performance, investors may be wise to temper their expectations for the future, as three key on-chain metrics suggest that a return to the record highs of $4,800 may not be imminent.

The first metric that is yet to pick up steam is daily transactions, which remain lower than the levels seen this time last year. 

Crypto analytics firm The Block’s data shows that the 7-day moving average of daily transactions is currently just above one million, well below the record highs of approximately 1.65 million seen in 2021.

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Source: The Block

Similarly, the number of daily active addresses interacting with the Ethereum blockchain also remains below its level this time last year. According to The Block, the 7-day moving average of active addresses was last around 400,000, which is significantly below its record high of around 750,000 in 2021.

The final key metric that is yet to show significant growth is the number of new addresses being created on the Ethereum network each day. The Block’s data indicates that the seven-day moving average was last around 67,000, compared to 80,000 this time last year.

These three metrics, when combined, serve as a proxy for demand for the Ethereum blockchain. Until they show a significant improvement, it is difficult to make a case for a rally back to the record highs of 2021.

Related Reading | Solana Founder Defends Platform’s Approach To Security & Performance Amid Recent Outages

Binance Under Fire For Moving $1.8B Out Of Customer Collateral Without Disclosure

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The blockchain data examined by Forbes revealed that Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, moved $1.8 billion of collateral intended to back customers’ stablecoins for other undisclosed uses without informing customers. The move has left holders of over $1 billion of B-peg USDC tokens without collateral, despite being promised 100% backing by Binance.

Of the raided customer funds, $1.1 billion was channeled to Chicago-based trading firm Cumberland/DRW to transform collateral into its own BUSD stablecoin. Amber Group, Alameda Research, and Tron were among the other companies that received hundreds of millions of collateral that had been transferred.

The exchange’s Chief Strategy Officer, Patrick Hillmann, downplayed concerns about commingling different investors’ funds, implying that despite what balances may show in Binance’s publicly viewable exchange wallets, the firm has its own proprietary records to track funds.

This move had sparked concerns about the exchange’s solvency and trustworthiness, with class action lawsuits already filed against crypto-focused banks Silvergate and Signature over claims they aided Sam Bankman-Fried’s efforts to misappropriate customer funds before his exchange blew up.

The exchange’s efforts to demonstrate solvency through proof-of-reserves exercises have been undermined by having two sets of books, making it very difficult to verify the solvency it claims independently. 

The move is reminiscent of FTX’s maneuvering before bankruptcy when its trading affiliate Alameda Research was alleged to have benefited from FTX’s disregard for pledges made to customers that their assets would remain separate from those of other exchange customers.

Additionally, Binance tokens (B-tokens) are compatible versions of stablecoins such as tether, with $3.2 billion in circulation, and popular cryptos, including ether, at $956 million. There are more than 90 other coins, many with much smaller circulations, where Binance versions have been created.

Binance CEO Responds To Forbes Accusations

However, Binance co-founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao took to Twitter the following day to tackle the “FUD” (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). Zhao wrote on Twitter that he was “reluctantly spending time on FUD again” and accused Forbes of intentionally misrepresenting facts and using negative spin.

He went on to explain that the exchange’s users are free to withdraw their assets at any time and that their withdrawals are easily traceable on the blockchain. He also pointed out that users must deposit funds with Binance to withdraw them and that these deposit transactions are easily traceable as well.

Zhao further defended Binance’s reputation, stating that the exchange has “stood the test of time” and that users had safely withdrawn billions of dollars in December.

In addition, he mentioned that he had been spending time with industry leaders in Dubai and that Binance had implemented a new zero-knowledge (ZK) approach to proof-of-reserves, protecting user security and privacy.

Zhao expressed disappointment that Forbes continued publishing “baseless” articles and suggested that his Chinese ethnicity had been brought up unfairly in the article.

However, the Binance CEO’s response has been met with support from the cryptocurrency community, with many praising his transparency and commitment to addressing concerns about the exchange.

Related Reading | Cardano (ADA) Maintains Popularity, While Solana (SOL) and Orbeon Protocol (ORBN) Pump

Your pension might not be as safe as you think!

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Your pension might not be as safe as you think! 8

Pension funds are a massive bubble and are unsustainable. Recently, in October 2022, UK pension funds almost collapsed. And not only the UK pensions are in trouble. Pension funds all around the world face massive problems. According to the World Economic Forum, the global shortfall of pension savings in 2015 were estimated to be $70 trillion. In their report from 2017 “We’ll Live to 100 — How Can We Afford It?”, they forecasted this shortfall to reach $400 trillion by 2050. This would be more than quadruple the current global GDP.

What if people live longer and fewer children are being born?

One major problem for pension funds is that peoples’ life expectancy is growing. Thus, the total pension payout would increase. Someone needs to pay for that. And combined with another major problem — fewer children being born — it could become catastrophic. Bruce Wilds writes in his article “Pensions Are The Biggest Ponzi Scheme Of Man” that South Korea tried to tackle this problem by investing $113 billion from 2006 until 2018 on urging people to get more children. Another common response is to raise the minimum age for pension payouts or to reduce the height of pension payouts. And you have very little influence on it.

Your pension isn’t guaranteed — you are being robbed

It would be a shame if you worked your entire life building your pension to get nothing in return. Unfortunately, this scenario becomes increasingly realistic. To sum it up, your pension fund:

  • always needs new money entering the pyramid to pay those who are already in it. Like a Ponzi scheme
  • plays with your money to make a profit for itself
  • is like a casino: if you lose your life before sixty-five, it takes your money
  • might go bankrupt. Money gone…

A great book to read and learn more about why you should not trust your classic pension fund is “Who Stole My Pension?” by Robert Kiyosaki and Edward Siedle. 

Sacrifice for a guaranteed pension

Are you also done with the old Ponzi scheme like, high risk pension funds? Sacrifice for the right to a guaranteed pension!

The sacrifice for a guaranteed pension is an online event from February 20th until May 20th, to make a digital statement. To participate, you need to send ETH, USDC, USDT, or HEX on the Ethereum blockchain to the given address: 0x0dEED0EfaFA3Ec083CFa5AB16492896f7543E426. Before sending, verify the address by comparing it with the address provided on https://pensionsacrifice.com/. Your sacrifice is registered digitally as points. These points have no monetary value but might surprise you with an airdrop.

Carpe Diem Pension might be the savior

Carpe Diem Pension is an automated pension fund that relies on pre-determined rules that can never be changed. Not by anyone. Never.

It is currently under development and is planned to launch on the Pulse blockchain in 2024.

Carpe Diem Pension is a supporter of the sacrifice initiative. It might reward sacrificers with an airdrop of its cryptocurrency XCD. This is not a promise or guarantee. If you sacrifice, you should have no expectations from the work of others.

Afbeelding met tekst, elektronica Automatisch gegenereerde beschrijving

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Binance Shifts To Semi-Automated System For Token Reserves Management: Report

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The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has established a new process to ensure greater transparency in its operations, as reported by Bloomberg on February 22nd.

This move comes after Binance was found to have mistakenly kept collateral for over 40 of its Binance-peg tokens in a single wallet that also contained customer funds last month. 

Additionally, the reserves for a major stablecoin were not properly documented, leading to gaps of up to $1 billion in externally visible funds between 2020 and 2021.

However, according to a spokesperson for Binance, the exchange has now implemented a partially-automated system that ensures B-Tokens are always transparently backed. 

This system only allows the minting of new coins to occur once the appropriate collateral has been added to the corresponding wallet. Furthermore, reserves have been distributed across 36 dedicated collateral wallets.

The spokesperson claimed that in the past few weeks, collateralized assets had been transferred to separate wallets for each network to ensure clear visibility of the 1:1 backing. 

Additionally, the spokesperson clarified that the collateral has always supported users’ B-token assets and can be withdrawn anytime. The assets will now be displayed on-chain in dedicated wallets and remain there until needed.

Binance Mints Own Versions Of Third-Party Tokens

Binance has developed a method to make certain digital tokens compatible with different blockchain networks. To achieve this, it creates its own versions of tokens like Ether, USDC, and USDT and locks up an equal amount of collateral in a separate wallet before minting new tokens on the user’s desired network. 

However, a previous mixing of over $539 million in B-Tokens and customer funds in an exchange wallet resulted in some tokens being significantly overbacked. 

The exchange has since implemented a semi-automated system to manage reserves and reduce security risks, although some tokens may still be slightly overcollateralized to prevent unexpected spikes in demand. 

While this system allows for quicker intervention in case of hacks or incidents, some experts suggest a fully automated process would be ideal to ensure trust in Binance’s management of reserves.

Nevertheless, Binance’s move to a semi-automated process for token reserves management is a necessary step towards increased transparency and security.

While the exchange’s past mismanagement of reserves is a cause for concern, the new system will hopefully reduce the risk of such incidents happening again. 

Related Reading | Ethereum L-2’s Unique Addresses Jumps By Over 790% In 2023

Ethereum Investor’s Risky Move Cost Him +$2M In 6 Months

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In 2022, Ethereum lose over half of its value between January 1 and September 15, but it also jumped by 64% from mid-July to mid-September, sending investors on a roller-coaster ride.

Regrettably, many inexperienced investors have engaged in dangerous activity as a result of these enormous price swings.

Leading web3 analyst Lookonchain highlighted one such incident where an ETH investor lost more than $2 million USDC in less than a year by blindly following price trends.

Between September 9 and September 12, 2022, a trader bought 7,135 ETH for 12.25 million USDC, at a 10% increase in the price of Ethereum.

As the value of Ethereum started to decline shortly after, the trader panicked and sold all of its Eth on September 16 making only a little over 10 million USDC. As a result, 1.74 million USDC were lost in just one week.

Later, the same trader bought 4,489 ETH with 7.65 million USDC on Feb. 16, when the price of Ethereum had risen by 10%. However, when the price of Ethereum dropped again, the trader sold all of their Ethereum in a panic, receiving only 7.33 million USDC back.

This resulted in a loss of 324,000 USDC in just one week.

Lookonchain said the above actions of blind buying and panic selling cost the trader over 2 million USDC in just half a year.

This serves as a cautionary tale for other investors, who may be tempted to follow similar behavior, it added.

In the second quarter of 2022, a string of unfavorable headlines hit the cryptocurrency industry last year.

A Word Of Caution For Ethereum Traders

The failure of the algorithmic stablecoin led to the collapse of the Terra blockchain in May, as well as the freezing of withdrawals and eventual bankruptcy filing of crypto lender Celsius in June and July and FTX in Nov.

As a result, several investors panicked and sold their holdings. Especially, newbie traders are often tempted to blindly follow the trend, buying when the price rise and selling as the value falls, fearing further losses.

However, such actions can be dangerous and result in significant losses. Lookonchain further noted,

It doesn’t matter if you miss the buying opportunity, you can wait patiently for the next opportunity. Not making money is much better than losing money.

Binance Mints TUSD While Price Of $TRU Rises By 200%

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Binance, the famous cryptocurrency exchange, has created roughly $50 million worth of TrueUSD just days after rumours surfaced that Paxos and Binance USD (BUSD) were under regulatory review by US authorities (TUSD).

Data from Etherscan indicates that the transaction occurred on February 16. It also occurs two days after Binance CEO Chanpeng “CZ” Zhao stated in a Twitter Space on February 14 that Binance would seek to “diversify” its stablecoin holdings away from BUSD.

CZ had previously stated that the recent regulatory action by the United States Securities Exchange Commission and the New York Department of Financial Services over the long term may lead to a fall in the dominance of U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins despite making nearly $50 million in TUSD from the TrustToken platform’s smart contract.

CZ said,

“I think with the current stances taken by the regulators on the U.S. dollar-based stablecoin, the industry will probably move away to a non-U.S. dollar-based stablecoin, back to algorithmic stablecoins.”

He further added,

“There’s multiple agencies putting applied pressure there. It is just going to shrink the U.S. dollar-based stablecoin market.”

CZ stated that they are now investigating alternative choices after being motivated to search for other options in various locations.

While the CEO noted that Binance would extend greater support for USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) in the near future in the hope that BUSD “winds down over time,” he also mentioned that they are now working to investigate new stablecoins based on the euro and the Japanese yen.

CZ stated that the existing circulating quantity of BUSD is there and safe, and when more individuals want to redeem, they will be burned in regards to BUSD.

Interestingly, the CEO of Binance also said that he was never overly optimistic about the BUSD stablecoin’s success.

He stated,

“To be honest BUSD was never a big business for us, when we started I actually thought the BUSD project may fail, so we actually don’t have very good economics on that collaboration.”

Binance Auto-Converts TUSD to BUSD

TUSD was an interesting stablecoin that Binance auto-converted to BUSD in September to improve liquidity and capital efficiency for its users. Additionally, USDC and USDP Stablecoins were automatically converted to stablecoins (USDP). In a few weeks, this increased BUSD’s market share in stablecoins from 10% to 15%.

TUSD was introduced by TrustToken on March 5, 2018. It is present on the Tron, Polygon, Avalanche, and Ethereum networks.

Every time a buyer wires USD to a third-party escrow account holding USD deposits on behalf of Prime Trust, new TUSD are created. The trader’s designated ERC-20 or BEP-2 wallet address will receive TUSD, which will then be transferred there in a 1:1 ratio to any USD that was sent there.