WuBlockchain Weekly: Bitcoin Reaches Historic High, USDT Market Cap Exceeds $100 Billion, FTX Opens Claims and Top10 News

Mar 08, 2024

1. BTC Reaches Historic High After 846 Days link

On March 5th at 23:04, BTC surged once again to its historical high of $69,000, last seen on November 10, 2021, marking 846 days since its last peak.

Following its climb to the $69,000 historical high, BTC reversed course and experienced a downturn, dropping to the $59,000 mark. Within the span of 24 hours, the total liquidation in the market amounted to $1.183 billion, with long liquidations reaching $892 million and short liquidations totaling $291 million. A total of 319,000 individuals faced liquidation, with the largest single liquidation occurring in Bitmex — LINKUSD, valued at $11.354 million.

On March 4th, the Bitcoin Volatility Index (BitVol) reached 79.92, the highest point since mid-November 2022, slightly decreasing to 78.81 on March 5th. Similarly, on March 5th, the Ethereum Volatility Index (EthVol) reached 81.1, also the highest point since mid-November 2022.

2. BlackRock’s IBIT Asset Management Surpasses Largest Silver ETF link

By assets under management (AUM), the BlackRock IBIT fund’s AUM of $12.6 billion has surpassed the largest silver ETF SLV’s AUM of $9.626 billion, ranking third among commodity ETFs. Additionally, Fidelity’s FBTC, ARK 21Shares ARKB, and Bitwise BITB rank fifth, ninth, and eleventh, respectively.

As of the draft, the total market capitalization of Bitcoin ETFs (including spot and futures ETFs) is $55.496 billion, with a total AUM of $49.321 billion. Among them, the top three Bitcoin ETFs by AUM are as follows: Grayscale’s GBTC has an AUM of $27.517 billion; BlackRock’s IBIT has an AUM of $10.009 billion; Fidelity’s FBTC has an AUM of $6.472 billion.

3. Tether’s USDT Stablecoin Briefly Surpasses $100 Billion Market Cap for the First Time link

With the broadening rebound in the crypto market, the stablecoin USDT issued by Tether has briefly surpassed a market capitalization of $100 billion for the first time in its history. According to Tether’s website, although the quantity of USDT tokens is approximately 99.5 billion, the token’s $1 price peg exhibits a slight premium on certain exchanges, which is sufficient to temporarily boost its market capitalization above this level.

4. Powell: Policy Rates May Have Peaked in This Tightening Cycle link

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to attend the semi-annual monetary policy report hearing in both houses of Congress. In the pre-released testimony, he indicated that the policy interest rates may have peaked in this tightening cycle. If the economic performance broadly aligns with expectations, it may be appropriate to begin easing policy constraints at some point this year. Lowering the target range for interest rates is not appropriate until there is greater confidence in inflation steadily moving toward 2%. The risks of inflation remain a high priority, and there is a keen awareness that high inflation can bring serious difficulties. The FOMC remains firmly committed to returning inflation to the 2% target. He will also field questions and inquiries from members of Congress during the hearing.

5. UK Government Holds Over 61,000 BTC, Worth Over $4 Billion link

In 2018, the London Metropolitan Police seized 61,000 bitcoins from Jian Wen and Zhimin Qian (currently valued at $4 billion), and in July 2021, they gained access to these seized bitcoins. Reportedly, Qian purchased these bitcoins with funds from an investment fraud case in China between 2014 and 2017 and is a fugitive wanted by the Beijing authorities. The British government currently still holds the seized bitcoins.

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6. US Court Rules Certain Cryptocurrency Trades on Coinbase to Be Securities link

A U.S. court ruled that trading certain cryptocurrencies on Coinbase constitutes securities trading. Previously, Coinbase’s former product manager, Ishan Wahi, provided information about tokens about to be listed on Coinbase to his brother, Nikhil Wahi, and his friend, Sameer Ramani. Nikhil Wahi and Sameer Ramani profited by purchasing these tokens early based on insider information.

7. Variant’s Chief Legal Officer: Confidence in Approval of ETH Spot ETF This Year Much Lower Than Many People Think link

Jake Chervinsky, Chief Legal Officer at Variant, expressed significantly less confidence in the approval of this year’s ETH spot ETF than many others. He noted that the SEC faced significant political resistance for approving BTC spot ETFs, even though it was essentially forced to do so by the courts. Chervinsky believes that sentiment now controls the market, and an ETH ETF would only exacerbate this situation. He pointed out that BlackRock’s nearly perfect record in obtaining ETF approvals is not only related to its relationship with the U.S. SEC but also to its ability to exert pressure. Chervinsky speculated that if the SEC were to demand BlackRock and other ETH ETF initiators to withdraw (which is a common practice), he believes they would comply.

8. Grayscale Report: Accelerating Inflation and Delayed Interest Rate Cuts May Hinder Cryptocurrency Valuation Increases link

In a recent report, analysts at Grayscale highlighted that the acceleration of U.S. inflation last month and the reduced likelihood of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut may be the primary factors hindering future increases in cryptocurrency prices. The report emphasized that macroeconomic factors such as Fed monetary policy and economic conditions significantly impact the valuation of crypto assets. If inflation continues to rise, Fed officials may postpone interest rate cuts until later this year or even 2025, which could benefit the U.S. dollar but pose challenges for Bitcoin. Nevertheless, Grayscale believes that consumer price inflation in the United States may continue to decline, prompting the Fed to eventually cut interest rates.

9. Nigerian House of Representatives’ Financial Crimes Committee Requests Summoning of Binance CEO link

The House of Representatives Financial Crimes Committee in Nigeria has summoned the CEO of Binance, Richard Teng, over allegations of financing terrorism and money laundering. The committee’s chairman, Ginger Onwusibe, issued a final ultimatum to the Binance management during a session on Friday, demanding their attendance at the committee meeting by March 4, 2024. Ginger Onwusibe stated that failure to comply with the summons would force the committee to invoke the constitutional powers vested in it and take appropriate measures.

10. FTX Opens Claims Window, Allowing Users to Log in and View Claimable Value link

FTX has recently opened a claims window where users can log into their claims accounts to view the claimable value. According to the official website of PricewaterhouseCoopers, under Bahamian law, there is an obligation to distribute each eligible claim in US dollars, regardless of its size. Currently, FTX’s claim pricing for major crypto assets stands at BTC $16,871, ETH $1258, SOL $16.24, and BNB $286, all of which differ significantly from current prices. However, users can also raise objections to the claim value and provide specific reasons.

On March 2nd, FTX’s joint official liquidators notified customers and non-customer creditors to submit electronic claims by May 15, 2024, to potentially receive distributions through the Bahamian process. The PricewaterhouseCoopers-managed claims portal is expected to conduct its initial interim distribution by late 2024 or early 2025, with all eligible claims valued in US dollars.

Fundraising

Ethereum Layer 2 network Taiko completes a $15 million Series A funding round. link
DePIN project io net, based on Solana, raises $30 million in funding. link
Open-source cryptography company Zama secures $73 million in Series A funding, with Multicoin Capital leading the investment. link
Decentralized artificial intelligence network Sahara raises $6 million in seed funding. link
Cryptocurrency payment company Baanx announces a $20 million Series A funding round. link
Bitcoin Layer 2 network Mirror L2 completes its initial funding round. link
Privasea secures $5 million in seed funding, with investment and incubation by Binance Labs. link
Sui ecosystem lending protocol Scallop completes a $3 million strategic funding round. link
Stack, a developer of on-chain scoring infrastructure, raises $3 million in seed funding. link
Zest Protocol completes its initial funding round and will launch on the Blast mainnet. link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.

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