JUPUSD Jupiter

Bitcoin stabilizes after bear resistance

Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) has plateaued after bears blocked its growth, keeping the price at $43,578 with a 1.44% increase in the last 24 hours. Analyst Ali Martinez sees this level as a buying opportunity, especially after the MVRV index fell below the 90-day average, indicating potential recovery. On the other hand, Bitget analyst Fernando Pereira predicts a drop in Bitcoin prices, viewing the recent 10% weekly increase as a brief pause. “Even after rising 10% last week, the sentiment is still bearish. BTC seems to be taking a breather before soon dropping below $40,000,” commented Pereira. Bitcoin has recorded a -3.16% decline for the month of January.

Tether achieves historic profits and strengthens financial reserves

In the recent quarter, stablecoin issuer Tether (COIN:USDTUSD) recorded unprecedented profits of $2.85 billion, driven by its USDT token approaching a nearly $100 billion market capitalization. About $1 billion of this profit came from yields on US Treasury bonds and other financial investments, with the rest coming from appreciations in assets like bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) and gold. For the year, Tether had a net operating profit of $6.2 billion, benefiting from the Federal Reserve’s policy of raising interest rates. The company also highlighted an excess of reserves of $5.4 billion, strengthening the backing of USDT in a period of cryptocurrency market revitalization and high interest rates in the US, as well as diversifying investments in areas such as bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence.

Terraform Labs seeks SEC recourse under Chapter 11 protection

Terraform Labs has appealed to Chapter 11 to contest the SEC’s fraud accusation, aiming to preserve operations and value for creditors and the Terra community. The company, which filed for bankruptcy with assets and liabilities between $100 million and $500 million, sees Chapter 11 protection as a chance to overturn the SEC’s judgment, accusing it of defrauding billions in unregistered securities sales.

SEC plans to dismiss DEBT Box action after admitting errors

The SEC proposes to dismiss its case against DEBT Box after acknowledging mistakes and inaccuracies in its statements to the court. The judge in the case received notice of the agency’s intention to withdraw the action without prejudice, leaving open the possibility of reopening the case. This decision follows Judge Shelby’s criticism of the SEC’s misleading statements regarding the transfer of DEBT Box assets out of the country.

Security breach in Chris Larsen’s XRP personal accounts

Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, announced a security breach in his personal XRP (COIN:XRPUSD) accounts, highlighting unauthorized access that resulted in the movement of approximately 213 million XRP, valued at $112.5 million. The initial discovery, made by cryptocurrency investigator ZachXBT, led to Larsen’s swift action to freeze compromised addresses and involve authorities. This incident caused an initial drop of over 4% in the XRP value, which later recovered to $0.51 at the time of writing.

Sui Blockchain shines with strong monthly performance and new records

The Sui Layer1 blockchain stood out in January as one of the best-performing digital assets. With an impressive 75.6% increase in the last month, SUI (COIN:SUIUSD) reached an all-time high of $1.64, surpassing previous milestones and standing out among giants like Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) and Ethereum (COIN:ETHUSD). This advance was accompanied by significant growth in the total value locked (TVL) in Sui DeFi, exceeding $430 million, driven by a variety of protocols and applications. The network is gearing up for more innovations, including offline transactions designed for the near future.

Record trading volume in Ether options and progress with Dencun update on testnets

Ethereum took a significant step with the implementation of the Dencun update on the Sepolia testnet, preceding the introduction of “proto-danksharding.” This feature aims to improve scalability and reduce costs by optimizing data storage. With one testnet remaining, expectations are growing for the mainnet launch date following the success of previous tests, including the Shapella update that allowed for the withdrawal of staked ETH.

Trading volume in Ether options on crypto derivatives exchanges reached a peak, with nearly $20 billion traded in January. Deribit led with $15 billion of that total. Most options, expiring on February 23, bet on Ether (COIN:ETHUSD) above $2,500, reflecting traders’ optimism despite a recent 0.15% decline in Ether’s value over the last 24 hours and a -0.6% monthly performance decrease.

Jupiter conducts airdrop of JUP token on Solana

Decentralized trading aggregator Jupiter, operating on the Solana network, launched its JUP token (COIN:JUPUSD) with an airdrop on Wednesday. Of the initial circulation of 1.35 billion JUP tokens, 1 billion were allocated for the airdrop to nearly one million wallets, with the remainder allocated to market makers and liquidity. The Solana network efficiently handled the transaction volume, dispelling concerns of potential disruptions.

NFTs increase by 10% in January

NFT indices recorded an increase of nearly 10% in January. The Nansen NFT-500 index, which tracks the most valuable NFTs, and the Blue Chip 10 had similar growth. This performance reflects the growing maturity and diversity of the NFT market, even with a decrease in the average price of NFTs and an increase in transactions.

Global X withdraws Bitcoin ETF application after SEC deliberations

Global X withdrew its application for a spot Bitcoin ETF, a move registered by the Cboe BZX Exchange on January 30th. This retreat comes after the SEC postponed its decision on the application twice, with Global X initially attempting in July 2021 and reiterating in August 2023. The withdrawal follows the successful launch of Bitcoin ETFs by eleven other issuers. Additionally, BlackRock (NASDAQ:IBIT) and Fidelity (AMEX:FBTC) accumulated more than 110,000 bitcoins, valued at $23.4 billion, in their recently launched ETFs. This rapid acquisition boosted Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) recovery and challenged the dominance of Grayscale’s (AMEX:GBTC) ETF in the sector.

UK seizes Bitcoin from Chinese fraud worth £1.4 billion

British authorities have captured £1.4 billion in bitcoin linked to a Chinese fraud, as revealed by the Financial Times. In a London trial, it was exposed that the bitcoins were seized from Jian Wen, allegedly involved in laundering fraudulently obtained money by Yadi Zhang, also known as Zhimin Qian, who diverted £5 billion from investors.

Bitfinex Securities begins operations in El Salvador with digital asset license

Bitfinex Securities has become a pioneer in El Salvador by receiving authorization to offer services related to digital assets. The platform now accepts customer requests and plans to launch several tokenized financial asset offerings in the first half of the year. The company anticipates robust demand for these regulated products, especially with the growing institutional interest in Bitcoin.

Binance plans to reduce stake in Gopax to mitigate liquidity issues

Binance is in negotiations to decrease its stake in Gopax, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, to address financial difficulties arising from the FTX collapse and local regulatory issues. Acquiring 72.26% of Gopax in February 2023 to assist with liquidity, Binance now proposes to convert loans into shares and sell them, reducing its majority stake and facilitating Gopax’s debt restructuring. This move also aims to comply with South Korean financial regulator requirements.

George Osborne joins Coinbase advisory board

George Osborne, former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been appointed as an advisor to Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), bringing his extensive experience in finance and politics. Serving in the UK government from 2010 to 2016, with stints in the banking sector and journalism, Osborne joins an advisory board filled with former politicians to assist in Coinbase’s global expansion in an environment of increasing regulation. In other Coinbase-related news, the exchange’s app returned to its previous position in the App Store, dropping from 16th to 49th place among financial apps in December. This occurred after a surge in popularity due to expectations of spot Bitcoin ETFs.