Cryptocurrency

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency fell 0.8% to $66,452.0 by 09:01 ET (13:01 GMT) after largely failing to break past $70,000 earlier this week. Declines in global stock markets also signaled that risk appetite remained weak, while the upcoming expiry of about $4 billion in Bitcoin options is expected to increase crypto market volatility in the coming days.Recent polls and online prediction markets showed Republican nominee Donald Trump gaining an edge over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. But the race was still seen as too tight to call, especially with about two weeks left to the ballot. While increased optimism over a Trump presidency had initially boosted crypto prices, this enthusiasm now appeared to be fading, especially as the elections drew closer. Trump has maintained a pro-crypto stance, promising to roll out crypto-friendly regulation if elected. Harris also recently pledged to a crypto regulatory framework. Crypto markets were also pressured by a stronger dollar, as growing expectations of a slower pace of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve pushed the dollar to near three-month highs. Traders were seen pricing in a greater chance the Fed will cut rates by a smaller 25 basis points in November, and were also seen positioning for a higher terminal rate. This notion saw Treasury yields surge to near three-month highs, pressuring risk-driven assets. Higher rates bode poorly for speculative assets like crypto, given that they limit the amount of liquidity available for investing in the sector.Among broader crypto markets, altcoin prices fell on Wednesday, tracking weakness in Bitcoin.World no.2 crypto Ether fell around 2% to $2,567.92, with the coin also expected to see increased volatility this week with the expiry of about $1 billion in Ether options.XRP, SOL, MATIC and ADA fell between 0% and 2%, while among meme tokens, DOGE slid 2.4%.In other crypto-related developments, a Nigerian court has dropped charges and approved the release of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan, who had been in detention since February.The case against Gambaryan, a former IRS agent and head of financial crime compliance at Binance, was discontinued due to his deteriorating health, according to a Bloomberg report.Gambaryan was detained after traveling to Nigeria to negotiate with authorities regarding the ban on several cryptocurrency trading platforms. During this visit, he was asked to surrender his passport and was subsequently taken into custody.At the same time, Binance’s regional manager for Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla, was also detained but managed to escape and leave the country within a month. Gambaryan, however, remained in detention, and his health steadily declined.During his eight-month detention, Gambaryan suffered from malaria, a chest infection, and a herniated disc that restricted his mobility. His family and US officials raised concerns about inadequate medical treatment, which contributed to the worsening of his condition.Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.  More

Aventus 2.0 is also working to expand its ecosystem through partnerships with Layer 3 appchains and engage token holders with a liquidity mining program. Additionally, a token burn mechanism will be introduced to reduce the supply of Aventus tokens (AVT).The AVT token was launched in 2017 and reached a peak value of $6.905 in early 2018. As of now, it has a market cap of $12.5 million and is trading around $2.09, according to CoinMarketCap.Aventus 2.0 was developed in collaboration with MVP Workshop, the team behind Polygon Edge and Astar Network, as well as Scytale Digital and the Aventus Services team. The Aventus team will roll out the update over the next four months, following a community governance proposal where AVT token holders voted in favor of implementing these changes.The update introduces a new appchain model that lets businesses operate on the Aventus Network. It also brings a liquidity mining program on Uniswap to boost token holder engagement. Additionally, a gas fee burn mechanism will help reduce the overall AVT supply.Aventus founder Alan Vey said: “Aventus 2.0 builds on important learnings from existing Aventus Network clients as well as the invaluable expertise of our partners at MVP Workshop & Scytale Digital, and represents a significant milestone in our journey to enhance the Aventus Network’s capabilities and deliver greater value to stakeholders.” The appchain model has already seen early adoption, with existing users of the Aventus Network launching their own Layer 3 appchains. Barry Helfrich, CIO at Enigmatic Smile, a rewards platform that uses the Aventus Network, said the team was instrumental in helping them build a reliable solution to process discounts for hundreds of millions of users. “We needed the Voucher Ledger solution to be secure, fast and stable enough to process the discounts collected by hundreds of millions of users in our rewards ecosystem — no small feat, but Aventus has helped us build such a solution,” Barry added. More

The report titled ‘From Coin to Computing: The Bitcoin Investing Guide’ also made predictions for the future trajectory of Bitcoin price as well as shed light on the rising market for Bitcoin ETFs. It also stressed the increasing convergence of Bitcoin with AI infrastructure. According to Bernstein, global asset managers have increased their holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs to nearly $60 billion in 2024. In comparison, their holdings stood at just $12 billion in September 2022. It described the launch of Bitcoin ETFs as the most successful in the history of exchange-traded funds, with $18.5 billion in inflows year-to-date since its introduction in January.”With institutional players flocking to Bitcoin, ETFs are proving to be the entry point for large-scale investment in digital assets,” Bernstein stated. The report further noted that ten leading asset managers, including high-profile names, have set up regulated Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. Bernstein is clearly bullish about Bitcoin’s price as the report predicted that the cryptocurrency could reach $200,000 by the end of 2025 on the back of the surge in institutional interest, particularly through ETFs. To be sure, Bitcoin has already risen by 120% over the last 12 months, with its market cap swelling to $1.3 trillion.“With institutional adoption accelerating, we expect Bitcoin to triple from its current levels,” Bernstein projects, adding that Bitcoin miners have scaled their computational capacities to match the growing demand. Bernstein expects that larger financial institutions are anticipated to play a more dominant role as the market matures. The report also hinted that Wall Street could replace Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, as the top wallet holder by 2024.Bitcoin’s rising role as a corporate treasury asset was another central theme in Bernstein’s latest report. It noted that firms like MicroStrategy are leading the charge, with more than 99% of its cash holdings in Bitcoin. MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR)’s strategy of acquiring Bitcoin in large quantities has made it one of the largest corporate holders of the asset. It currently owns 1.3% of the total supply.The report also pointed to Bitcoin’s superior returns on the back of exposure through equities such as MicroStrategy, as opposed to holding the asset directly or via ETFs. “We view MicroStrategy as an active leveraged Bitcoin equity strategy,” said Bernstein. The Bitcoin mining industry is witnessing a slew of consolidations, with major players like Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT), CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK), and Marathon acquiring smaller miners. The report noted how industrial-scale mining operations are increasingly dominating the space by acquiring smaller, less organized mining outfits. Bitcoin miners are consolidating to manage at least 20 gigawatts of global power supply, according to the report.This shift towards large-scale mining operations is likely to continue, with leading miners also expanding into AI data centers. “We expect leading miners to amass 30% of Bitcoin’s total hashrate by 2025,” Bernstein stated. Bernstein’s report also explored the synergy between Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure, as miners provide a unique advantage to data centers by offering access to large-scale power. Bitcoin miners are evolving into essential partners for AI data centers as they capitalize on excess energy capacity and offer efficient solutions for high-performance computing.“Miners present an energy arbitrage opportunity, trading at $2-4 million per megawatt, compared to $30-50 million per megawatt for legacy data centers,” Bernstein noted. Core Scientific is one such example, executing a multi-billion-dollar deal to develop AI data centers alongside Bitcoin mining operations. Bernstein predicted that ETF adoption for Bitcoin will outpace that of traditional assets, as the logistical challenges of self-custody for retail investors push more capital into regulated investment vehicles. The report also predicted that Bitcoin’s market cap could expand from its current $1.3 trillion to over $3 trillion by the end of 2025, as wealth management platforms, pension funds, and registered investment advisors increasingly allocate assets to Bitcoin. More

Peanut launches a beta of the first self-custodial offramp, allowing users to directly cash out any token on 20+ EVM chains to their bank accounts—without relying on centralized exchanges. This beta feature is being rolled out in the EU and US first.This new beta feature creates an important bridge between crypto and fiat. Users can cash out funds from any token on 20+ EVM chains directly in US Dollars or Euros to their bank account, skipping the need for CEXes or other custodied solutions. This works by creating a bridge between the blockchains and fiat payments networks like IBAN, BIC, or SWIFT. Peanut’s key feature is texting funds using QR codes or messengers such as WhatsApp, Telegram, email etc. With the self-custodial offramp, recipients can now transfer their funds directly to their bank account without the need to have a wallet themselves. This breakthrough in crypto accessibility makes transferring money across platforms frictionless and user-friendly. In addition to texting funds without worrying whether the recipient uses crypto or fiat, users of self-custodial wallets can now directly offramp into their bank account without using a CEX. “Texting money is now possible,” said Hugo Montenegro, co-founder of Peanut and a Harvard graduate. “This is a major step toward simplifying crypto for everyday use, meaning you can send stablecoins through channels like WhatsApp, Telegram, Email etc. We use this to pay freelancers all the time.”For the beta launch of this new feature, a discounted fee of $1 + 0.25% applies. The minimum cashout amount is $10.“Anyone can now send funds seamlessly”, said Derek, CTO of Reown.With support for over 20 blockchain networks and plans to expand to Bitcoin and Solana, Peanut Protocol is committed to simplifying the crypto experience for everyone. As a non-custodial, permissionless solution, Peanut empowers users with full control of their digital assets. Leading blockchain projects such as Blockscout, WalletConnect, and Clave Wallet are already leveraging Peanut’s technology to enhance their user experience.For more information, users can visit https://peanut.to/ or contact press@peanut.toContactCo-FounderKonrad UrbanSquirrel Labspress@peanut.toThis article was originally published on Chainwire More

Schiff is well known for his outspoken criticism of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general. A vocal proponent of gold as a store of value, Schiff has often argued that Bitcoin is a speculative bubble and lacks the intrinsic value of traditional assets. His latest comments on the MicroStrategy stock might draw from this standpoint.MicroStrategy’s market value has grown from $1.5 billion to more than $40 billion in just four years. Michael Saylor, cofounder and executive chairman, attributes the company’s success to its Bitcoin approach.Since 2020, MicroStrategy’s stock has outpaced every firm in the S&P 500 index, rising more than 1,540%, while the S&P 500 rose by only 111%. Originally an enterprise software company, today MicroStrategy owns 252,220 Bitcoin — more than 1% of all Bitcoin that will ever be mined.MicroStrategy has recently rebranded itself as a Bitcoin development firm, exploring innovative ways to integrate Bitcoin with traditional finance.MicroStrategy’s net asset value (NAV) is calculated by dividing MSTR’s market capitalization by the value of its Bitcoin stack. The NAV premium recently touched a new high of 2.5 times its Bitcoin holdings of around $17 billion.While MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) stock price might be high thanks to its perky valuation compared to the amount of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, Schiff’s latest warning might tilt more toward his skepticism of Bitcoin and the companies closely tied to its performance. Whether his prediction of a MicroStrategy crash and subsequent “bloodbath” comes to pass remains to be seen.This article was originally published on U.Today More

The debt crisis highlights the potential for currency devaluation, inflation and fiscal instability. Within this context, Gemini’s response demonstrates why many in the crypto community regard Bitcoin as a hedge against traditional fiat currencies and a safety net in uncertain economic times.While the exact meaning behind Pompliano’s tweet and Gemini’s response remains open to interpretation, it has undoubtedly drawn the attention of the crypto community.This article was originally published on U.Today More

In his tweet, MicroStrategy’s Saylor suggested that users should begin to “spread Bitcoin with love.”Michael Saylor is a vocal Bitcoin evangelist. His long-running company, MicroStrategy, began to regularly buy BTC in August 2020, developing a new strategy based on Bitcoin. Currently, it holds 252,220 Bitcoins evaluated at approximately $9.91 billion.Over the weekend, Saylor took part in a podcast, where he made several Bitcoin statements, some of which triggered the Bitcoin community. He also said that if another company decides to follow their playbook and start buying BTC, having a capitalization of only one billion, it would never be able to catch up with MicroStrategy, which can put up exponential growth with its BTC holdings.While this is happening, crypto whales are increasing their activity, and they have been buying more BTC. This is a “great sign” for Bitcoin, he believes, but “a terrible sign for the global economy.” The analyst expects that Bitcoin can run as high as $500,000 or even $600,000 per coin in the future.In the meantime, Bitcoiner and venture investor Anthony Pompliano shared that the size of the U.S. national debt has increased to a staggering $35,770,000,000,000. In another tweet, he added that the first $12 trillion of this debt appeared after 221 years of U.S. history. Over just the last five years, another $12 trillion were added to it, leading the debt to the huge present figure.The fast-growing national debt is cited by many prominent Bitcoin supporters as another reason that ensures Bitcoin will soar well above the $100,000 level in the future. Many of them name the $1 million target that they expect to reach before 2030 arrives. At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is changing hands at $66,923.This article was originally published on U.Today More

Dogecoin whales also went on a rampage, with a 24-hour growth rate of 58.67% to $1.85 billion. Cardano also tagged along with the trend, with whale transactions soaring as high as 28.19% in 24 hours to register a volume of $7.23 billion.Beyond the whale activity correlation, the three profiled assets do not have an active burn mechanism. This means that large transactions are one way to drive price growth across the board.Cardano might also boost the current ADA whale boost with potential positive ecosystem sentiment that has trailed the community since the Chang hard fork upgrade. As of this writing, the ADA price has become $0.3576, with a relatively flat growth rate.In all, Dogecoin might also chart its growth surge at a time when the meme coin is receiving a unique boost from investors. For now, the top meme coin is looking at a rebound from its current level at $0.1392 amid a 2.39% drop.This article was originally published on U.Today More