- Ether Eyes Price Rally After ‘Wedge’ Breakout, But Europe’s Energy Crisis Zaps Risk Appetite
Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by market value, looked set for renewed price ahead of the Ethereum “Merge,” according to observers tracking chart patterns.
However, buyers remained on the sidelines early Monday, perhaps due to fears that inflation would worsen in the wake of Russian energy giant Gazprom’s indefinite suspension of gas supply to Europe and force central banks to stick to rapid liquidity withdrawal.
Last week, the native token of Ethereum’s blockchain broke out of a falling wedge pattern identified by two converging and descending trendlines connecting Aug. 14 and Aug. 25 highs and lows hit on Aug. 10, Aug. 20 and Aug. 28.
- Iran Starts Licensing Crypto Miners Under New Regulatory Framework
The Iranian government approved a set of “comprehensive and detailed” crypto regulations during a meeting last week that include provisions for crypto mining.
Reza Fatemi Amin, Iran’s minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade, said his ministry now has permission to resume issuing licenses for crypto mining, local media reported. He was quoted as saying:
Based on the rulings by the government, the entities that apply to mine crypto assets can get an establishment license and an operating license.
A pair of licenses are needed before an entity can start mining cryptocurrencies in Iran: an establishment license and an operating license. The former establishes the entity as a legal crypto miner while the latter allows it to actually start crypto mining.
Sharing some details of the newly approved crypto regulatory framework, Mohsen Rezaei Sadrabadi, secretary of the government’s working group on cryptocurrency, said that mining centers can now apply for a license and use mined cryptocurrencies to pay for imports.
https://news.bitcoin.com/iran-starts-licensing-crypto-miners-under-new-regulatory-framework/
- Owner of Mercado Bitcoin 2TM Undergoes Second Round of Layoffs
The parent company of Latin American exchange Mercado Bitcoin, 2TM, has announced a second round of layoffs as companies continue cutting back amid crypto winter.
According to Bitcoin Portal, a Brazilian cryptocurrency publication also owned by 2TM, the company let go of 15% of its employees due to continued “adversity in the economy.” The publication stated that it “regrets the loss of colleagues.”
Previously, 2TM claimed that the competitive environment for exchanges was “unfair” without the approval of a legal framework for digital assets in Brazil, with companies that abide by the law being penalized compared to those that don’t, according to a translated statement from the company.
The recent round of layoffs follow earlier cuts from 2TM that took place in June, where the company let go of 12% of its 750 employees, or about 90 workers, citing “changes in the global financial landscape.”
https://decrypt.co/108957/owner-of-mercado-bitcoin-2tm-undergoes-second-round-of-layoffs
- Binance Helps Kyber Network Identify 2 Hackers Involved in Its Hack
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on September 3 revealed that the exchange has identified two suspects involved in the KyberSwap hack.
Zhao tweeted that the Binance Security team had identified two suspects responsible for the attack and had provided the necessary information to the Kyber team.
He added that the exchange was also partnering with Law Enforcement to ensure the apprehension of the hackers.
Recall that the Kyber Network had on September 1 suffered a frontend attack that led to the theft of about $265,000 worth of users’ funds.
The Kyber team had offered the hackers a 15% bounty while warning that there was no way for them to cash out the funds without doxing themselves.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7192246
- US congressman and crypto skeptic explains why a crypto ban won’t work
In a recent interview, United States congressman and a known crypto skeptic Brad Sherman claimed that banning cryptocurrencies is not an option at this point.
In a statement to LA Times, the Northridge-area Democrat said that the crypto industry has become quite powerful over the years. He added that the high capital donations to the politicians and strong crypto lobbying make it impossible for them to impose a blanket ban. He explained:
“We didn’t ban it at the beginning because we didn’t realize it was important, and we didn’t ban it now because there’s too much money and power behind it.
The democratic representative is a well-known skeptic who has been demanding a crypto ban since 2019. Nearly three years later, Sherman has changed his tune about a ban and now advocates for regulating the crypto market.
The U.S. congressman is especially worried about small and retail investors who often fall prey to gullible scams but admitted that any amount of effort by the judiciary to protect investors won’t work until they keep investing in cryptocurrencies such as meme coins. He said:
“It is hard to be running the subcommittee dedicated to investor protection in a country in which people want to wager on [meme coins].”
- MicroStrategy, With Bitcoin’s Price Depressed, Looks to Lightning to Boost Usage, Saylor Says
Michael Saylor, who transformed a sleepy software firm into a cryptocurrency powerhouse via a (currently underwater) multi-billion dollar bet on bitcoin, is now having the non-crypto part of the business work on bitcoin-related projects as well.
Speaking to an audience at the Baltic Honeybadger conference in Riga, Latvia, on Saturday, the executive chairman and former CEO of MicroStrategy said the firm’s developers are working on solutions that would allow to onboard large numbers of people onto the Lightning network, a payment network on top of bitcoin allowing faster and cheaper transactions.
Saylor announced on Aug. 2 he stepped down as MicroStrategy CEO, retaining his position as chairman of the board and taking on the new title of executive chairman. At the time, Saylor said his successor would be able to focus on the company’s software business while he continued his bitcoin evangelization. Now it appears at least some of that software business is going to be used to help make it easier for people to use bitcoin, which potentially would increase the value of the cryptocurrency the company holds.
- Billionaire David Rubenstein Bullish on Crypto, Optimistic About Regulation
Billionaire investor David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, one of the largest investment firms, shared his cryptocurrency outlook in an interview with CNBC Thursday.
Responding to a question about whether he is bullish on cryptocurrency, the billionaire explained:
I’m bullish in the sense that I think the greatest fortunes are made when people go against conventional wisdom.
“Who knows where crypto’s going to be but right now crypto’s been beaten down dramatically,” he pointed out, indicating opportunities in the sector.
He then confirmed that he is a crypto investor. “Not just crypto itself but I’ve invested personally in the companies that surround the industry, not just the cryptocurrencies themselves but companies that service the industry,” the Carlyle Group co-founder stated. Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN) is an example of one of these companies, Rubenstein clarified, adding that these firms “have not actually done that well lately” due to the decline in crypto prices.
Nonetheless, Rubenstein stressed:
But in time, I think the industry is not going away.
https://news.bitcoin.com/billionaire-david-rubenstein-bullish-on-crypto-optimistic-about-regulation/
- UK Agency Warns Crypto Exchanges to Report Any Sanctions’ Breaches
The United Kingdom Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) of Her Majesty’s Treasury ruled that cryptocurrency exchanges must report any suspected cryptocurrencies that may be used to evade Russian sanctions.
In an August announcement, the OFSI stated that exchanges must report the suspected breach to the agency and freeze the assets or face criminal charges or financial penalties.
The sanctions agency added that “any other payment instruments” and assets that are “used to obtain funds, goods or services,” including cryptocurrencies, would fall under the definition of a sanction’s breach if used with such intent.
Lido Finance is a popular staking platform for cryptocurrencies. Source: Shutterstock
Ethereum
https://decrypt.co/108959/uk-agency-warns-crypto-exchanges-report-any-sanctions-breaches
- Miner Sent 4400 BTC to Binance: 4th Biggest Transaction in Last Two Months
A few days ago, a miner sent a whopping 4,400 BTC to Binance. This seems to be the fourth largest transaction from miners to exchanges in the last two months.
At the same time, analysis reveals that Bitcoin might already be close to the bottom region, although there are no clear signs as to when the next bull market might take place.
4,400 BTC was moved from a miner to Binance. This particular transaction came from the prominent BTC mining organization called Poolin.
According to an analyst from CryptoQuant, this is the 4th biggest transaction from miners to exchanges in the past two months.
The previous transactions of similar magnitude were on May 12th (2,600 BTC), June 16th (4,700 BTC), and June 22nd (5,700 BTC).
Source: CryptoQuant
Another analyst from CryptoQuant notes that the downtrend is currently being maintained. However, he also acknowledged that Bitcoin is already close to the bottom region according to the MVRV indicator.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7192530
- FTX to halt Ethereum trades on Arbitrum, Solana, BSC for the ETH Merge
While Ethereum devs promised no downtime during The Merge, one of the most anticipated Ethereum upgrades, members of the crypto community decided to take proactive measures to ensure the safety of investor funds. In this effort, crypto exchange FTX announced to halt all Ether (ETH) trades on various blockchains until the September upgrade concludes.
The Merge upgrade will permanently transition the Ethereum blockchain from proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism — aimed at reducing energy consumption and introducing sharding capabilities.
According to Ethereum developers, the Merge is designed to transition to PoS with zero downtime owing to the terminal total difficulty (TTD), which will ensure the transition based on the total mining power that goes into building a chain. Despite the explanation, FTX chose to suspend “deposits and withdrawals until the Merge is finished and networks are stable.”
As the ETH merge approaches, FTX will temporarily disable blockchain transfers of secondary chains for ETH to make sure that settlement is clean; main chain ETH transfers will stay active for longer.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/ftx-to-halt-ethereum-trades-on-arbitrum-solana-bsc-for-the-eth-merge
