- Ether Dominates Futures Trading as Shorts See $200M in Liquidations
Crypto markets jumped in the past 24 hours as the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) raised interest rates by 75 basis points as expected. Bitcoin jumped 10% at one point following the Fed announcement, while ether soared as much as 16%.
Total market capitalization increased 6.4%, one of the biggest gains in recent weeks as risk appetite returned among investors as they priced in lower rate hikes ahead. Ether led gains among majors, with Solana’s SOL, BNB, and Cardano’s ADA up 6.4% in the past 24 hours. Elsewhere, Uniswap’s UNI and bitcoin cash added as much as 21%.
The upward movement caused over $200 million in liquidations on short trades and some $175 million on long trades. Over 72% of all liquidated traders were short positions, meaning a short squeeze may have contributed to some of the price gains among major cryptos in the past 24 hours.
- European Banking Authority Concerned About Hiring Talent to Oversee Crypto Space
Retention of talent for anything crypto-related is a “major concern,” the man who chairs the European Banking Authority (EBA), revealed in an interview. The deficit applies to other areas as well, including technology and digitization, with high demand for specialists across society, the executive added, quoted by the Financial Times.
The Paris-based EBA was established in 2011, after the last financial crisis, to ensure that European banks had enough capital to overcome similar challenges in the future. More recently, it was also tasked to oversee Europe’s bid to regulate cryptocurrencies. It now says it’s also worried about planning for its new powers.
European institutions recently agreed on a draft regulatory framework called Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA). But the authority won’t know which digital coins, cryptocurrencies used for payments, and stablecoins it has the authority to supervise until close to 2025, when the legislation is expected to come into force, its head indicated.
- Solana Set to Open IRL Retail Store and Web3 ‘Embassy’ in New York
A Solana-themed store is set to open its doors in New York City. Called Solana Spaces, the new store is located in Hudson Yards and is being launched in collaboration with the Solana Foundation, the organization behind the eponymous blockchain network.
Crypto companies and Web3 brands have been steadily making inroads into mainstream culture, with celebrities like Tom Brady, Steve Aoki, Snoop Dogg, and Elon Musk getting in on the action.
Brands like the Ethereum NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club have even branched out into “IRL” products and businesses, including a Bored Ape-themed restaurant in Los Angeles. Solana, which recently announced plans to create and launch its own Android smartphone, also appears to see value in going the brick-and-mortar route.
https://decrypt.co/106088/solana-spaces-irl-store-web3-embassy-new-york
- Bitcoin (BTC) Sprints Back Above $23,000 After Midweek Dip
Bitcoin had been trading underneath a descending resistance line since the beginning of April. This downward movement led to a long-term low of $17,622 on June 18.
Bitcoin has been mostly moving upwards since then and broke out from the line on on July 18. While the price initially decreased, it managed to rebound significantly on July 27 and created a large bullish candlestick. In turn, this validated the $21,600 area as support.
More importantly, the daily RSI bounced from its ascending support line (green icon) and moved above 50 once again. This is considered a bullish sign, and means that the bullish structure is intact as long as the RSI is trading above the ascending support line.
If the upward move continues, the closest resistance area would likely be found at $29,370, created by the 0.382 Fib retracement resistance level.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7161118
- Binance CEO Discusses Crypto Ecosystem with Turkish Officials
The exchange’s Chief Executive Officer, Changpeng Zhao, known on Twitter as ‘CZ’, met with Turkish officials where he discussed issues bothering the crypto ecosystem.
“We had a virtual meeting with Mr. Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance. Mr. @cz_binance and I had discussions on the blockchain ecosystem and crypto assets,” said Dr.Nureddin NEBATİ, Turkey’s Minister of Treasury and Finance, one of the key officials that were a part of the meeting.
While the exact details of the conversation were not revealed, crypto Twitter has been speculating that something big might be underway between the trading platform and the Turkish government.
Over a year ago, Binance came under fire for operating illegally in quite a number of jurisdictions. With its license revoked, it made up its mind to pursue a more wholesome relationship with regulators across the board. With its commitment to tightening the loopholes in its engagement with regulators, it has earned one of the most impressive backing from regulators over the past year.
“The spread of FUD and panic harms projects, users, and the industry. Those actions must be held to account,” explained Lyu.
https://blockchain.news/news/binance-ceo-discusses-crypto-ecosystem-with-turkish-officials
- Bitcoin Awaits US GDP After Biggest Single-Day Gain in 6 Weeks
Bitcoin awaits the release of U.S. data that’s expected to show the world’s largest economy narrowly avoided entering a recession in the second quarter, having drawn relief from Federal Reserve (Fed) messaging on Wednesday.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ initial reading of second-quarter gross domestic product, due at 12:30 UTC (08:30 EST), is expected to show the economy grew at a 0.5% annualized rate, rebounding from the first quarter’s 1.6% contraction, according to FXStreet.
The data is pivotal as it would reveal the damage caused by inflation at a 40-year high and could inject volatility into markets. Big data releases like GDP and inflation have become more market-moving than ever, with the central bank ditching forward guidance on Wednesday and making future policy moves ultimately data-dependent. The Fed defines forward guidance as “a tool that central banks use to provide communication to the public about the likely future course of monetary policy.”
- UK National Crime Agency Seizes $33 Million in Cryptocurrency
The British National Crime Agency (NCA) published its annual report 2021-22 this week. The NCA “leads the U.K.’s fight to cut serious and organized crime, protecting the public by targeting and pursuing those criminals who pose the greatest risk to the U.K.,” its website states.
The report details that between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, the NCA seized property worth £59.79 million, stating:
Seized property held by the NCA as at 31 March 2022 consisted of £59.79m … in cash, motor vehicles and other valuables suspected of being derived from criminal activity.
The NCA also revealed that £26.894 million ($32.75 million) in cryptocurrency was among the property seized. In contrast, no cryptocurrency was seized in the year 2020-21. The agency did not specify which cryptocurrencies it seized.
https://news.bitcoin.com/uk-national-crime-agency-seizes-33-million-in-cryptocurrency/
- UK Commission Aims to Clarify Crypto Property Law
As global authorities continue to wrestle with how to regulate cryptocurrencies, the U.K. Law Commission on Thursday proposed changes to clarify how property laws apply to digital assets in England and Wales.
The 57-year-old commission says digital assets like crypto tokens and non-fungible tokens—unique blockchain tokens that signify ownership that are better known as NFTs—play an increasingly important role in modern society.
“Digital assets such as NFTs and other crypto-tokens have evolved and proliferated at great speed, so it’s vital that our laws are adaptable enough to be able to accommodate them,” said Professor Sarah Green, the Law Commissioner for Commercial and Common Law, in a statement.
https://decrypt.co/106130/uk-commission-aims-to-clarify-crypto-property-law
- $400 Million in Liqudations as Bitcoin Soared to Weekly High Above $23K
Somewhat surprisingly, the crypto market reacted quite well to the latest interest rate hike from the US Fed, with prices soaring to new weekly highs. As such, the number of liquidated traders on a daily scale is over 90,000, while the total value of liquidations is $400 million.
As CryptoPotato reported yesterday, the primary cryptocurrency had retraced from last week’s high and stood around $21,000 after briefly dipping below that level.
The altcoins were also calm after the recent losses, with ETH dropping by over $200 in two days.
However, all eyes were on the latest FOMC meeting, where some experts suggested that the Federal Reserve could be more aggressive in its interest rate increase. They turned out to be accurate.
The US central bank hiked the rates by 75 basis points and said it will continue to increase them throughout the year to fight inflation. The next FOMC meeting will be in two months – in late September.
As it usually happens, the Fed’s announcement brought volatility to the crypto markets. This time, though, it was in terms of rapid price gains.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7161059
- Solana stablecoin Nirvana sinks 90% amid $3.5 million flash loan exploit
Nirvana Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) yield protocol on Solana, has suffered a flash loan exploit to the tune of about $3.5 million, according to PeckShield.
Nirvana’s native token ANA and its stablecoin NIRV suffered massive price falls due to the attack. ANA slipped 89% from $8.97 to $0.93 while the stablecoin has lost 90% of its US dollar value in the process.
On-chain data shows the attacker used a $10 million flash loan in USDC to mint $10 million worth of ANA tokens. Flash loans let you borrow large amounts of capital at low cost, as long as the loan is repaid in the same block. This flash loan was secured on the Solend Protocol.
