Rise’n’Crypto

It was a good weekend for Bitcoin as the price added to weekly gains, closing out the week up over 13%. However, traders are now focused on the $50,000 milestone and the potential resistance on the way. Elsewhere, two new Solana drainers are changing transactions after being signed, and Joe Biden accidentally sets the crypto community alight with laser eyes on X.

Further reading:

• Best weekly close since 2021 — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week — William Suberg
• Scam-as-a-service: New Solana drainers identified — Ana Paula Pereira
• Bitcoin ETFs hit $10B milestone just one month after approval — Ana Paula Pereira
• Joe Biden posts ‘laser eyes’ meme after Super Bowl — but it’s not about Bitcoin — Tom Mitchelhill

References:

• ‘Substitution’ of gold for Bitcoin is now underway, says Cathie Wood — Brayden Lindrea

So, grab yourself a coffee, and let’s get into it!

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned. 

There are some big-picture stories to catch you up on today, starting with a U.S. Treasury report that put crypto “far below” cash usage in money laundering, despite what some senators would have you believe. As spot Bitcoin ETFs continue to haul in “big volume,” one expert believes they are far superior to gold ETFs. And what are ERC-404 tokens?

Further reading:

• Crypto use in money laundering ‘far below’ cash — US Treasury — Gareth Jenkinson
• ERC-404 hybrid NFT tokens in ‘good spot’ for EIP push, says dev — Jesse Coghlan
• ‘Big volume day’ for BlackRock as Bitcoin ETFs notch $1B volume — Martin Young
• Spot Bitcoin ETF ‘superior’ to gold ETF — Helen Partz

References:

• Fractional NFTs and what they mean for investing in real-world assets — Anthony Clarke

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned. 

Bitcoin has been sitting pretty for some time, and while some of us are enjoying the volatility-free pause, it is part of a rare signal that a massive price move is imminent in the next 10 days, according to one trader. Elsewhere, ransomware attacks skyrocketed in 2023, Tron is set to dominate stablecoin payments, and U.S. crypto miners question whether the EIA’s survey is politically motivated.

Further reading:

• Bitcoin has ‘10 days max’ until BTC price metric hits squeeze zone — William Suberg
• Ransomware returns: Chainalysis flags record $1B payments in 2023 — Gareth Jenkinson
• TRON poised to lead stablecoin payments and RWA tokenization: Report — Cointelegraph Research
• US crypto miners challenge EIA’s energy usage survey — Gareth Jenkinson

References:

• Bitcoin pump prompts ‘emergency’ review of US crypto miner energy use — Jesse Coghlan
• Brian Morgenstern's EIA post on X
  
  

So, grab yourself a coffee, and let’s get into it!

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned. 

Yesterday, in crypto, stories broke from every corner of the industry. MicroStrategy is stacking more sats and now holds over $8 billion in Bitcoin. The market has seen six-year highs of outflows from miners’ wallets to exchanges, and Solana goes down — again! Monero gets the boot from Binance and dips in price, and Ronin’s price drop after its listing has raised eyebrows about corruption by Binance employees.

Further reading:

• MicroStrategy buys $37M in Bitcoin, bringing holdings to 190,000 BTC — Tom Mitchelhill
• Bitcoin ETFs lead to record miner reserve BTC outflows — Gareth Jenkinson
• Solana network down: Validators act to restore service — Prashant Jha
• Monero hits 5-month low as Binance plans delisting — Helen Partz
• Binance offers $5M snitch bounty after RON token listing sparks ‘heated’ debate — Jesse Coghlan

References:

• Coinbase’s Conor Grogan post on X about suspicious wallets

So, grab yourself a coffee, and let’s get into it!

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned. 

No two days in crypto are the same, and today is no different as a wave of artificial intelligence-generated fake IDs are reportedly passing crypto exchange KYC checks. Meanwhile, Ripple’s controversial feature to allow reversible transactions under certain circumstances on the XRP Ledger has received near-unanimous approval among validators.

Further reading:

• AI-generated fake IDs claimed to pass crypto exchange KYC are selling for $15 — Jesse Coghlan
• Spanish Treasury to seize crypto to pay tax debts — Geraint Price
• First US bank to let customers keep cryptocurrency in checking account exits crypto — Tristan Greene
• XRP clawback nears 100% consensus — Will ‘reversible’ transactions boost price? — Yashu Gola

So, grab yourself a coffee, and let’s get into it!

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned. 

Don’t be fooled into thinking this was a quiet weekend; as always, crypto never sleeps! Stories from the weekend include a Bloomberg report suggesting far more potential inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs once investment firms have completed due diligence, a crypto teacher loses $1.2 million of his student’s money, and a Web3 social media app has seen an enormous spike in users.

Further reading:

• Bitcoin ETFs hype stalled by due diligence — Ana Paula Pereira
• Crypto teacher loses student’s $1.2M investment in fake hedge fund — Ciaran Lyons
• Farcaster sees 400% increase in daily active users amid ‘frames’ frenzy — Tom Mitchelhill
• FTX moves to offload 8% stake in Anthropic — Ana Paula Pereira
• Scrapped FTX relaunch raises alarm over legal team’s profits — Amaka Nwaokocha

References:

• John Reed Stark's post on X about FTX bankruptcy

So, grab yourself a coffee, and let’s get into it!

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned. 

Solana-based decentralized exchange Jupiter has attracted enormous buzz, and its airdrop saw some users receive as much as $1.2 million in JUP tokens this week. However, during the frenzy, traders accidentally pumped the wrong JUP token of a defunct Ethereum-based protocol. Whoops!

Further reading:

• Traders pumped and dumped another ‘JUP’ during $700M Jupiter airdrop — Tom Mitchelhill
• Polygon Labs cuts 19% of staff in effort toward ‘enhanced performance’ — Turner Wright
• Binance froze $4.2M of XRP from hack on Ripple co-founder’s wallet — Prashant Jha
• Comedian Larry David said he was ‘an idiot’ to do FTX Super Bowl ad — Turner Wright

References:

• Marc Boiron Polygon Labs post on X

So, grab yourself a coffee, and let’s get into it!

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned. 

Crypto has very few quiet days, and with jam-packed events and stories, yesterday certainly wasn’t one of them. From a sleuth uncovering a $112.5 million Ripple hack to Binance facing another lawsuit to Tether posting how much it crushed it in 2023 and the most bizarre of court cases in the U.K. involving a $1.7B Bitcoin seizure, there’s a lot to cover!

Further reading:

• Ripple chairman Chris Larsen hacked for reported 213M XRP worth approximately $112.5M — Tristan Greene
• Hamas victims sue Binance over alleged ‘assistance’ to terrorists — Derek Andersen
• Tether posted record $2.85B profit in Q4, driven by T-bills — Ana Paula Pereira
• $30M mansion hunt leads to $1.7B Bitcoin seizure — Ezra Reguerra
• Bitcoin halving hopium: Study reveals 84% of investors expect new all-time highs — Gareth Jenkinson

So, grab yourself a coffee, and let’s get into it!

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned. 

Crypto on and off-ramps are an age-old discussion, but Visa may have just enabled one of the quickest and cleanest ways yet to convert crypto to fiat without using a centralized exchange. Sticking with centralized exchanges, Binance is clawing back its market share following its $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities and the departure of Chanpeng Zhao as CEO. And “Crypto Mom” Hester Peirce continues her battle to improve the U.S. SEC.

Further reading:

• Visa enables crypto withdrawals on debit cards in 145 countries — Helen Partz
• Binance’s market share rebounds post-$4.3B US settlement deal — Ezra Reguerra
• China to introduce revised crypto AML regulations by 2025 — Prashant Jha
• SEC’s settlement gag rule ‘undermines regulatory integrity’ — Jesse Coghlan

So, grab yourself a coffee, and let’s get into it!

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned. 

Today, we are all over the map to get you caught up on all things crypto, from highly encouraging data about stolen crypto recovered in 2023 to Grayscale spot Bitcoin ETF outflows falling fast to BTC price predictions after the halving. And what’s with the frenzy around the Solana-based Jupiter decentralized exchange? It’s time for your debrief, so get those headphones on!

Further reading:

• Stolen crypto worth $674M successfully recovered in 2023 — Ezra Reguerra
• BlackRock Bitcoin ETF passes $2B holdings as GBTC outflows dip 50% — William Suberg
• Fidelity Bitcoin ETF rakes in reported $208M, offsetting Grayscale outflows alone — Jesse Coghlan
• There may be one last chance to buy BTC at ‘bargain’ prices — Tom Mitchelhill
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr pledges to end US efforts to move toward CBDC — David Attlee
• Solana DEX Jupiter flips Uniswap amid stablecoin, Wen airdrop frenzy — Tom Mitchelhill

References:

• Rekt Capital Bitcoin halving post on X

So, grab yourself a coffee, and let’s get into it!

Rise’n’Crypto is brought to you by Cointelegraph and is hosted and produced by Robert Baggs. You can follow Robert on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cointelegraph’s Twitter: @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph’s website: cointelegraph.com

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are its participants’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph. This podcast (and any related content) is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, nor should it be taken as such. Everyone must do their own research and make their own decisions. The podcast’s participants may or may not own any of the assets mentioned.