Hodler’s Digest, Feb. 4-10 – Cointelegraph Magazine

By admin On Feb 11, 2024 8 0

‘Big volume day’ for BlackRock as Bitcoin ETFs notch $1B volume

Total daily trading volume for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) topped a billion dollars on Feb. 7, with BlackRock leading the pack. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart described it as a “big volume day” for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, which saw a daily trading volume of $341.2 million, eclipsing the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s $296.5 million in volume, according to Seyffart. Meanwhile, Fidelity’s FBTC fund came in third with $200 million in volume, and the remaining seven funds had $188 million in daily volume — bringing the total for the day to more than a billion dollars.

Monero hits 5-month low as Binance plans delisting

Binance is delisting Monero (XMR) and other tokens like Aragon, Multichain, and Vai on Feb. 20, 2024. The announcement sent XMR’s value to five-month lows on Feb. 6. The exchange will remove all trading pairs involving Monero, including those trading against Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, and Binance’s native coin, BNB. Withdrawals for XMR tokens will be suspended after May 20, 2024. Binance’s decision is based on factors like contribution to the crypto ecosystem’s health, ethical conduct and responsiveness to due diligence requests, said the exchange.

ARK 21Shares refiles spot Ethereum ETF with cash creates, adds staking

ARK 21Shares has amended its spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) application to adopt a cash-creation model — similar to its approved spot Bitcoin ETF — and has also floated plans to stake a portion of the ETF’s Ether to generate additional income. Under the cash creates model, ARK 21Shares would purchase Ether equivalent to the order amount and deposit it in the trust’s account with the custodian. ARK’s filing also proposes adding a staking element to its spot Ether ETF. According to the filing, the ETF would stake Ether from the trust’s cold vault balance, and staking rewards would be treated as income for the trust. In another headline, the U.S. SEC delayed a decision on whether to approve an Ether ETF proposed by Invesco and Galaxy Digital.

FTX, Alameda transfer $39M to exchanges in 37 days

Crypto wallets linked to the defunct FTX exchange and its sister company, Alameda Research, have sent over $38.8 million in digital assets to numerous crypto exchanges since January 2024, according to data tracked by blockchain analytics firm PeckShield. The fund movements happened amid the fallen exchange’s restructuring efforts and unveiling its plans to fully repay its customers. On Jan. 31, the defunct exchange said in a U.S. court hearing that its restructuring plans would not include a re-launch of the exchange but would be focused on repaying its customers in full. However, FTX attorney Andy Dietderich said that repaying customers was an objective, but not guaranteed.

AI-generated fake IDs claimed to pass crypto exchange KYC are selling for $15

A new service claiming to use artificial intelligence “neural networks” and “generators” to create fake driver licenses and passports has reportedly succeeded in passing Know Your Customer (KYC) checks on multiple crypto exchanges. The fake documents are available for only $15. The site generates realistic fake driver’s licenses and passports from 26 countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and multiple European Union countries, and takes payment in multiple cryptocurrencies through Coinbase’s commercial payments service. 404 Media reported on Feb. 5 that it successfully bypassed the KYC verification of crypto exchange OKX using a photo of a British passport the outlet generated with the site, where the ID appeared to be laid on a bedsheet as if a picture of it was taken.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $47,497, Ether (ETH) at $2,491 and XRP at $0.52. The total market cap is at $1.78 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Dymension (DYM) at 79.19%, Kaspa (KAS) at 31.70% and BitTorrent (New) (BTT) at 29.38%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Monero (XMR) at -27.20%, Jupiter (JUP) at -17.89% and Ronin (RON) at -10.52%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.