1. Market Wrap: Ether Breaks Out as Bitcoin Lags
Ether may be poised for a move to $4,000.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, broke out of a monthlong consolidation on Wednesday and looks poised to continue higher. Bitcoin, meanwhile, was trading at around $48,600 at press time and is up about 3% over the past 24 hours, compared with an 8% rise in ETH over the same period.
“Ethereum’s blockchain activity is bullish, indicating the second leg of the bull run is close,” Alexandra Clark, a trader at U.K.-based digital asset broker GlobalBlock told.
“The recent spike in NFT (non-fungible token) activity has prompted a rise in transaction volume and active addresses on the Ethereum network, as well as a deflationary supply,” Clark wrote.
For bitcoin, analysts are watching for a potential increase in trading volume, which has been on the decline over the past month, to confirm support above $46,000 and $48,000.
Latest Prices
Bitcoin (BTC) $48,243, +2.50%
Ether (ETH) $3,724, +9.45%
S&P 500: +0.0%
Gold: $1,814, -0.0%
10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.302%, -0.003 percentage point
Ether takes the lead
Ether’s share of the total crypto market capitalization has been rising since 2019, and is now just below 20%. The increase in market share could solidify Ethereum’s place in the crypto ecosystem as a top smart contract platform.
Analysts at Delphi Digital wrote in a Tuesday blog post that if support holds near $3,500, ETH could be primed for takeoff. Delphi also noted that September could be a seasonally weak period for cryptocurrencies, but a positive fourth quarter could make up for any short-term pullbacks.
2. SEC Sues BitConnect Founder on Fraud Charges
The securities regulator also filed charges against a U.S.-based promoter and an affiliated company.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against BitConnect and its founder Satish Kumbhani, as well as a U.S.-based promoter, Glenn Arcaro, alleging fraud against the crypto lending company.
The SEC accused BitConnect, a global operation that used a network of commission-based promoters to sell $2 billion worth of its native cryptocurrency token to retail investors, of being a Ponzi scheme. Investors were promised up to 40% return on their investment, which BitConnect promised to generate using a non-existent “volatility software trading bot.”
Instead of investing client funds, the SEC alleges that BitConnect and Kumbhani “siphoned investors’ funds off for their own benefit by transferring those funds to digital wallet addresses controlled by them, their top promoter in the U.S., defendant Glenn Arcaro, and others.”
Several other BitConnect promoters have already faced civil lawsuits from the SEC for receiving millions in commission for their role in the alleged fraud.
Kumbhani and Arcaro had not, until today, been charged for their relationship to BitConnect’s alleged scam.
BitConnect operated between 2016 and 2018, shutting down after receiving cease-and-desist orders from state regulators, including Texas and North Carolina. At the time, the letters alleged BitConnect was violating state securities laws.
The company’s BCC token tanked in price following the shutdown.
3. El Salvador to Launch Government Blockchain Infrastructure on Algorand This Year
The country has signed an agreement with Latin American asset tokenization company Koibanx to allow official records to be hosted on the blockchain.
El Salvador’s government has signed an agreement with Koibanx, a Latin American asset tokenization and blockchain financial infrastructure company, to develop the country’s blockchain infrastructure on top of the Algorand blockchain.
The ability to store official documents digitally on top of the Algorand blockchain will come before the end of this year, Koibanx CEO and co-founder Leo Elduayen told us.
“We want to make business transactions and any other commercial act secure, transparent, agile and automatic,” Elduayen said.
Koibanx first approached El Salvador’s government after it passed a law in June that made bitcoin (BTC, 5.71%) legal tender in the country, Elduayen said.
“We assumed that a government that is willing to take this type of measure might be also open to use or leverage blockchain technology for other aspects — not only for what the law defines itself, but for other government areas,” he noted.
4. ‘Crypto Dad’ Giancarlo to Quit BlockFi’s Board After 4 Months
The departure comes as BlockFi faces mounting legal pressure over its flagship interest-bearing crypto accounts.
Former chief U.S. commodities regulator Christopher Giancarlo has resigned from BlockFi’s board of directors after only four months.
It was not immediately clear why Giancarlo is leaving the cryptocurrency lender’s board. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Shortly after being contacted by CoinDesk for this story, BlockFi issued a press release saying Giancarlo has been replaced by Ellen-Blair Chube. BlockFi said Giancarlo “will continue to provide strategic counsel to the firm in an advisory role.”
“Crypto Dad,” as the Digital Dollar Project co-founder was known during his tenure as chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), was the BlockFi board’s first independent director.
His unexpected exit comes at a critical juncture for BlockFi.
5. The Latest NFT Fad Is a Text-Based Fantasy Game Building Block
An open-source side project from Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann has quickly built a devoted community — and a market cap over $180 million.
The latest non-fungible token (NFT) craze is among the simplest — and the strangest — yet: a randomly generated list of items ostensibly intended for players of a fantasy video game.
In just five days, “Loot: (for Adventurers),” a text-based NFT side project from social media network Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann, has managed to attract $46 million in sales and a total market cap well in excess of $180 million.
Perhaps even more impressively, the Loot community now counts among its ranks an all-star list of Web 3 founders, builders and investors, including executives from projects including Aave, Axie Infinity and Fractional Art — many of whom are building new projects on top of the original drop in an effort to expand the “Loot-verse,” as Aave founder Stani Kulechov puts it:
While some believe the project signals the genesis of an open-source fantasy metaverse, others — including the founder himself — are worried the sky-high prices might be the latest sign of an unsustainable NFT bubble and could end up deterring more would-be players than not.
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September 2, 2021
