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    16 Million Ethereum Worth $26B Eligible For Dump Starting March 2023

    YouTuber Lark Davis released a video warning users that 16 million Ethereum tokens worth over $26 billion will be eligible to be withdrawn and dumped on the market, from March 2023 onwards.However, he adds that all the coins will not be unlocked at the same time. Similarly, while many are looking forward to gains from selling, Davis declares that not all Ethereum holders will be likely to sell or dump either.He shares that ETH was valued at $600 at the time of staking. However, it would take all of the Ethereum validators almost a year to exit if they wished to due to the daily limits. Moreover, Davis announces that over a million coins will be unlocked in 3 weeks after the unlocking starts, as part of the staking reward.According to Davis, if holders decide to sell instead of staking after the unlocking goes live, it will propose a good buying opportunity for crypto investors and traders.Staking, as defined on the ethereum.org website of the Ethereum Foundation, is “the act of investing 32 ETH to activate validator software.” But, cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and specialized websites like Lido allow holders of Ether to engage in staking and collect rewards without having to satisfy the 32 ETH minimum.The platforms are able to issue tokens that represent users’ staked ether, also known as liquid-staking derivatives. While the staked ether they represent is locked up and earning interest, the derivative tokens can be traded or utilized in other decentralized finance applications.Despite the fact that the Merge took place in 2022, Ethereum users started staking ether as early as December 2020 in order to gain access to the validator software, knowing that the staked assets and any collected rewards would stay locked up until a subsequent upgrade to the blockchain.Additionally, Staking Rewards, a data provider, estimates that 14% of all ether tokens are currently staked, representing a market worth nearly $29 billion. Validators will finally be allowed to withdraw these assets thanks to the Shanghai upgrade, should they want to do so.The post 16 Million Ethereum Worth $26B Eligible For Dump Starting March 2023 appeared first on Coin Edition.See original on CoinEdition More

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    Dollar bounces back as US economy defies doubters

    The dollar has rebounded from a 10-month low as investors push up their forecasts for US interest rates after signs of stubborn inflation and unexpectedly strong economic activity. The world’s most important reserve currency rose to a 20-year high in September but tumbled 11.2 per cent over the following four months as US inflation declined from a multi-decade peak, allowing the Federal Reserve to slow the pace at which it raised interest rates towards the end of 2022. Tamer rate rises and the prospect of steady or even falling rates in 2023 removed one of the currency’s key supports.However, February has begun with a flurry of economic data suggesting the world’s biggest economy remains in rude health, pushing the dollar back up by 3 per cent against a basket of six other leading currencies since the start of the month and erasing January’s decline. The US last month added more than half a million jobs, almost triple the consensus forecast, while inflation fell to 6.4 per cent, a smaller decrease than expected.“The inflation report has ruined markets’ nice little disinflationary plan,” said Florian Ielpo, multi-asset portfolio manager at Lombard Odier, with central banks likely to maintain their upward pressure on rates as a result. Jordan Rochester, a foreign exchange strategist at Nomura, said February began “with everyone in the macroeconomic community assuming the dollar would sell off against the euro and the yen. Since then almost every single US data point has come in stronger than expected, and markets have slowly come around to what the Fed has been saying for a long time, that rates have further to go and will be kept on hold for a while.”Benchmark US interest rates stand in a range of 4.5 per cent to 4.75 per cent. At the start of February, futures markets were pricing in a rates peak close to 4.9 per cent, with two cuts in the second half of the year taking borrowing costs to about 4.4 per cent heading into 2024. Just over two weeks later, markets had shifted to predict a peak at 5.28 per cent, ending the year just above 5 per cent following a single cut.Still, some investors doubt the dollar rally has much longer left to run. The haven currency is likely to continue to rise this quarter but “resume its downward trajectory as global growth and risk sentiment improve,” said analysts at UBS. More

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    More Crypto Firms Threatened With Layoffs and Bankruptcies

    The challenge around stablecoins that started in 2022 is extending its influence into 2023. The consequences of this development are whipping up more bankruptcies, with several companies subscribing to drastic adjustments that could lead to massive layoffs.The crash of TerraUSD in the spring of 2022 exposed several malpractices in the crypto industry, revealing how intertwined most stakeholders have become. It initiated a ripple effect that is still unfolding with increasing casualties.Many of the biggest crypto lenders in the sector have gone underground due to a loss of confidence from customers that have withdrawn their funds. There is also increasing scrutiny from the regulatory authorities, making it more difficult for most crypto companies to run their businesses as usual. Hence, many are embarking on structural adjustments to aid their survival.One of the top crypto companies that have kickstarted an adjustment program is Blockchain .com, which announced plans to lay off 28% of its workforce. That is equivalent to 110 employees after the company fired 150 workers last summer. It also said it would close its offices in Argentina.Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), the largest crypto exchange in the U.S. has also laid out plans to sack 950 workers, making up 20% of its workforce. The company also plans to embark on unspecified cost-cutting processes as part of a restructuring plan.This wouldn’t be the first time Coinbase is laying off staff since the stablecoins crisis began. It let some of its staff go in the summer of 2022.Crypto. com, like Coinbase, also plans to cut its staff strength by 20%. It will be the second layoff campaign of the company in six months. According to reports, the last layoff exercise did not come with prior notice. Staff members only realized that they no longer work with the firm after they could not connect to staff meetings.Last year’s crypto industry crisis reached its pinnacle when FTX collapsed, taking many investors by surprise. It led to massive withdrawals from centralized exchanges, the impact of which they are beginning to feel in the new year.The post More Crypto Firms Threatened With Layoffs and Bankruptcies appeared first on Coin Edition.See original on CoinEdition More

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    AI Is Silicon Valley’s Next Big Thing After Crypto: Wall Street Journal

    Wall Street Journal published an article titled, “AI Becomes Silicon Valley’s Next Buzzy Bandwagon as Crypto Boom Fizzles,” discussing how trend-hoppers have moved from web3 and blockchain to artificial intelligence.The document talks about the upcoming technological bubble that is artificial intelligence, which is receiving attention for creating content, images, and computer codes. According to the article, despite the technology’s obvious shortcomings, most technologists concur that the so-called generative AI that drives platforms like ChatGPT has the potential to transform how we live and work. Yet, some chief executives, investors, and engineers detect froth that makes them think of the recently overhyped cryptocurrency market.Even computer professionals who escaped the recent rounds of layoffs that shook Silicon Valley are hopping on the AI train. Refugees from the crypto craze, the most recent IT industry boom to fizzle out, are among them.Moreover, some AI experts are concerned that “artificial intelligence” may end up just being another one of those meaningless tech buzzwords.Ben Waber, chief executive of Humanyze, a company that uses AI and other tools to analyze work behavior, added,However, the article argues that the investors and founders in the AI industry complaining about the technology, have faith in their own AI tech. The movement of personnel and financing from computer titans failed Web3 startups, and speculative SPAC-fueled ventures appear to be the precise refocusing the tech industry needs, despite the risks of AI becoming another hype-fueled bubble, mentioned the article.The post AI Is Silicon Valley’s Next Big Thing After Crypto: Wall Street Journal appeared first on Coin Edition.See original on CoinEdition More

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    Crypto lawyer: It’s Really Hard to Navigate without Any Clear Rules

    In a recent interview, crypto lawyer Mike Selig argued that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would find it challenging to regulate crypto without clear rules. Selig suggested that the SEC’s action against Paxos and BUSD is another example of the industry’s challenges due to the lack of clear regulations.Last week, the Wall Street Journal revealed that the US digital asset regulator sent a Wells Notice to Paxos Trust Co, the issuer of the Binance stablecoin, BUSD. According to Investopedia, a Wells Notice is a document to inform a company of an impending enforcement action.Additionally, a prospective defendant is allowed 30 days after receiving a Wells Notice to respond via a legal brief to argue why the charges should not be brought against them.In the document, the US SEC claimed that the BUSD was an unregistered security. However, a Paxos spokesperson disagreed with the SEC that BUSD was not a security token, adding that the firm would prosecute the matter vigorously if forced.Previously, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, argued that the BUSD issuer was under the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) regulation.Since the commencement of the regulatory action against BUSD, its market share has lost over two billion dollars. Consequently, BUSD has lost a position in its ranking of the most significant token by market cap.A crypto trader theorized that the absence of the Binance stablecoin on the market would put the Binance coin, BNB, in a better position. “They don’t know less BUSD use [means] bullish BNB,” the trader argued — people would “need to buy and hold more BNB for fees discount” on the spot market.The post Crypto lawyer: It’s Really Hard to Navigate without Any Clear Rules appeared first on Coin Edition.See original on CoinEdition More

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    Few Altcoins are Struggling to Keep up With the Crypto Market

    Bitcoin has had an impressive year, with most cryptocurrencies market rallying with it. The initial surge in January 2023 was universal, and almost all the altcoins registered gains. After consolidating in the first week of February, a few altcoins have failed to pick up the rediscovered momentum.According to analysts, deviation and price rejection are among the factors that have seen the affected altcoins fail to sustain the momentum in the second leg of the rally. As reported, Frax Share (FSX) is among the top losers in this rediscovered market strength. After reaching $14.69 on February 9, FXS has been unable to push higher.A downward price movement has pushed the token below resistance at $11.40. That qualifies the initial breakout as a deviation and threatens to force the FXS price toward the $8 region. Analysts think that if the token can turn around and climb above $11.40, it will open up the possibility of heading toward $15.The analysts also identified NEO (NEO) as one of the few cryptos that have struggled during this period. A descending resistance line on NEO established in June 2022 proved too strong for the crypto again, despite the strong market momentum.Not climbing above the resistance could see NEO drop to $7.60, say analysts. However, a breakout above the line could see NEO reach the $12.20 price region.A third outlier noted by the analysts is OSMOSIS (OSMO) which rallied with the crypto market in the early days of 2023, reaching $1.26 in the process. OSMO dropped with the rest of the crypto market during consolidation. However, analysts noted a unique development for OSMO is in the form of a descending resistance line.According to predictions, the symmetrical triangle created by the resistance line will play a significant role in how OSMO prices develop. A breakout to the upside will imply a price rally that could push the price to $1.10. Otherwise, the price will fall to $0.80 if it breaks out from the base.The post Few Altcoins are Struggling to Keep up With the Crypto Market appeared first on Coin Edition.See original on CoinEdition More

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    Custodia Bank CEO Blasts Washington For Crackdown On Crypto

    Caitlin Long, the founder, and CEO of Custodia Bank have turned up the heat on lawmakers and regulators in Washington D.C. over the ongoing crackdown on the crypto industry. In her blog post titled “Shame On Washington, DC For Shooting A Messenger Who Warned of Crypto Debacle”, Long detailed how her warnings to regulators were ignored, ultimately leading to the current predicament of the crypto industry.The Chief Executive of Custodia Bank, which has made a name for itself in the digital assets banking space, revealed in a lengthy Twitter thread earlier today that she had provided evidence to U.S law enforcement agencies that detailed probable crimes being committed at a certain crypto firm. According to Long, the evidence was handed over months before the firm’s implosion which led to considerable losses to millions of customers.The CEO further alleged that she had warned banking regulators about an imminent bank-run scenario that would hit the banks catering to crypto firms. Silvergate Bank was among the crypto-facing institutions that were affected by the bank run last month. However, Caitlin Long’s attempts to warn regulators and weed out corruption in the crypto space ended up backfiring on her bank.As per Long’s blog post, her attempts to call out the lawmakers and regulators on their “misguided crackdown” on crypto, led to retaliation from Washington. Custodia Bank’s application to become federally regulated was shot down. The executive alleged that Custodia Bank became the target of a coordinated attack by the White House, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Kansas City Fed, and Senator Dick Durbin.Caitlin Long’s struggles with American regulators and lawmakers resonated with Jesse Powell. Powell’s crypto exchange Kraken is one of the latest victims of the regulatory crackdown on crypto. Kraken reached a $30 million settlement with the SEC earlier this month.The post Custodia Bank CEO Blasts Washington For Crackdown On Crypto appeared first on Coin Edition.See original on CoinEdition More

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    Mt. Gox top creditor goes with early payout option: Report

    Mt. Gox Investment Fund, the largest creditor of the defunct crypto exchange, reportedly decided to take its chances with a lesser but earlier payout rather than waiting for all the legal processes to be resolved. This means that the creditor will be paid by September this year instead of potentially waiting another nine years before getting their funds back. Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More