News Updates January 22, 2023

1. Crypto Sentiment Split Between Bull Trap or Bottom as Bitcoin Nears 23K

Following a calamitous year for digital assets, many are skeptical as tokens pump.

A recent upswing in the price of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum has provoked a distantly familiar debate: whether a market rebound could be imminent or if recent trends are just a prelude to more pain.

Since Bitcoin reached an all-time high of around $69,000 in November of 2021, digital assets have been walloped by higher interest rates and a series of high-profile collapses–firms like Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and FTX, to name a few.

While Bitcoin is down nearly 67% from its peak, digital assets–and other investments like stocks–have had a positive start to the year. The price of Bitcoin has risen 38% so far this month to $22,858, its highest price since last August. Ethereum, meanwhile, has seen the value of ETH rise around 38% as well to $1,645, according to CoinGecko.

Cryptocurrency prices began rising earlier this month in anticipation of an economic report that showed inflation cooled in December. The reading also lifted hopes about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates less aggressively than they have in the past year to tame soaring prices.

2. Altcoins Will See Positive Scenario If BTC Goes $26,000 – $30,000.

Following BTC’s breach above $22,000, the crypto expert who accurately predicted this year’s Bitcoin rise is looking at the best-case scenario for altcoins.

According to DonAlt, a fictitious analyst informs that cryptocurrencies in US dollar pairings seem very, really fantastic.

ollar, but he believes they will correct against Bitcoin as he sees a significant BTC surge to $30,000.

DonAlt believes that after the BTC surge shows symptoms of fatigue, the next consolidation period might prompt capital movement into altcoins.

BTC rallies hard nuking BTC pairs (~26-30k).

BTC temporarily tops and nukes.

BTC dead cats (on lower TFs) while alts go nuts.

Altcoins have always taken a back seat whenever Bitcoin soars. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $22,826, up roughly 38% year on year.

DonAlt sees sidelined cash flooding back into digital assets when looking at the larger crypto markets.

Bear market rallies are beautiful. Still waiting for $30k~ but we’re getting closer to the point where bears start sweating so much that they might actually convert some stables into BTC/ETH/Alts. I’d like to TP [take profit] my trades into that but just don’t feel like it’s time yet.”

Previously, Coincu reported that Bitcoin continued to increase gradually in value and tapped yet another multi-month high. Bitcoin has retraced a few hundred dollars. Nonetheless, its market worth remains above $440 billion, and its dominance over altcoins exceeds 42%.

Besides, Aptos has been one of the strongest performers since the market began to recover a few weeks ago. The last seven days have been especially amazing for the native token, which has increased by 95% in that span.

3. Examining the Holdings of 5 Centralized Crypto Exchanges: A Look at Binance, Okx, Crypto.com, Bitfinex, and Huobi.

After FTX collapsed, the incident prompted many major crypto exchanges to publish proof-of-reserves and lists of known addresses so users can verify the solvency of the trading platforms. While the veracity of these proof-of-reserve lists and asset dashboards is debatable, they do provide some insight into the large sums of cryptocurrency held in custody by major exchanges. For example, Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, manages $66 billion in crypto assets, which is more than 6% of the entire cryptocurrency economy’s net value of $1 trillion.

An Inspection of 5 Proof-of-Reserves Lists That Provide Insight into Large Cryptocurrency Holdings

It has been more than 80 days since Coindesk published a story about Alameda Research’s balance sheet, which showed the quantitative trading desk owned a large amount of ftx token (FTT). Then, on Nov. 6, 2022, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) revealed that his exchange would be selling its FTT holdings. Since then, FTT has lost considerable value and FTX filed for bankruptcy protection five days later on Nov. 11. At that time, and prior to FTX’s failure, it was challenging to monitor the exchange’s reserves as executives kept things very opaque. This situation has led exchanges to release proof-of-reserve lists and there has been criticism from crypto industry members over specific types of lists and how they are audited.

Additionally, Paul Munter, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) acting chief accountant, recently stated that the SEC is closely monitoring proof-of-reserves (POR). Despite the complaints, the available proof-of-reserve lists provide some insight into what entities hold and, to a certain extent, they help improve market stability because people can monitor the holdings. The following is an examination of five different centralized crypto asset exchanges and their holdings in crypto assets as of Jan. 22, 2023, according to nansen.ai’s exchange list. Nansen features a dashboard for 18 different centralized crypto exchange platforms.

Binance

Binance is the largest with $66 billion in digital assets held in reserves by the crypto exchange giant. On Jan. 22, the largest crypto exchange by trade volume held 486,427 bitcoin (BTC), worth $11.1 billion. In terms of stablecoins, Binance holds $13.2 billion in tether (USDT) and $13.3 billion in BUSD.

Additionally, Binance holds 4.7 million ether, worth $7.6 billion, and another $7.6 billion worth of binance coin (BNB). The exchange also holds more than $13 billion worth of other crypto assets that are too numerous to name. If Binance’s stash was included in the top ten crypto assets by market cap, it would rank in the fourth position.

Okx

Nansen’s dashboard list shows that the crypto exchange Okx holds $7.6 billion in crypto assets. $3 billion of the funds are held in tether (USDT), and the exchange also holds 97,656 BTC, worth $2.2 billion.

25.95% of Okx’s assets are held in ethereum (ETH), or a balance of 1.2 million ether, worth $1.9 billion, using current exchange rates for ETH. Additionally, Okx holds roughly 294 million usd coin (USDC) as well.

Crypto.com

Crypto.com manages around $3.83 billion on Jan. 22, and its holdings currently include 44,208 BTC, worth just over $1 billion. The exchange also holds 514,763 ETH, which is worth roughly $833 million on Sunday.

Nansen’s Crypto.com dashboard further shows that the trading platform holds 17.28% of its holdings in shiba inu (SHIB). Crypto.com’s SHIB holdings include around 55.2 trillion SHIB, or $663 million worth of the meme token. The trading platform also manages around 585 million usd coin (USDC) and 2.1 billion cronos (CRO), worth around $167 million.

Bitfinex

The digital currency trading platform Bitfinex holds $8 billion in crypto assets on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. 54.29% of Bitfinex’s holdings are in bitcoin (BTC), or around 191,654 BTC, worth $4.36 billion today. 28.15% of Bitfinex’s assets are kept in unus sed leo tokens (LEO), or around $2.2 billion worth of LEO.

The exchange also holds 466,014 ethereum (ETH), worth $756 million, on Jan. 22. Additionally, Bitfinex manages 331 million tether (USDT) and 0.64% of Bitfinex’s assets, or around 126 million XRP, are held in reserves.

Huobi

Huobi holds around $3.17 billion on Jan. 22, and 30.91% of the assets are in the exchange coin, huobi token (HT). The exchange manages 196 million HT, which is worth roughly $980 million today in USD value.

Huobi also holds 617 million tether (USDT) and 9 million tron (TRX), worth $596 million. 12.13% of Huobi’s assets are held in BTC, 5.35% is stored in ETH, and 13.35% of Huobi’s assets are alternative crypto assets too numerous to name. $7.7 million worth of the value derives from the 57.58 million HUSD that Huobi holds, which is 30.66% of the HUSD supply. While HUSD was once a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, HUSD is now trading for $0.13 per coin.

The 5 Exchanges Hold $88.6 Billion or 8.6% of the Crypto Economy’s Current USD Value

All five of the aforementioned cryptocurrency exchanges hold $88.6 billion in crypto assets combined. The combined value of all five of the exchange’s reserves equates to 8.6% of the current $1 trillion crypto economy.

74.49% of the $88.6 billion is held on Binance, and the rest is dispersed among Okx, Crypto.com, Bitfinex, and Huobi. The trading platform with the largest exchange token coins is Bitfinex, with its stash of $2.2 billion worth of LEO. Out of the five mentioned exchanges, Binance holds the most Bitcoin (BTC) with its cache of 486,427 BTC.

4. Jim Cramer Thanks SEC Chairman for Standing up to 'Crypto Bullies' Seeking Spot Bitcoin ETF Approval.

The host of Mad Money, Jim Cramer, has thanked Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler for standing up to the “crypto bullies” who want the regulator to approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Cramer has repeatedly warned about the SEC cracking down on uncompliant crypto firms, urging investors to get out of the asset class now.

Jim Cramer Praises SEC Chairman Gary Gensler

The host of CNBC’s Mad Money show, Jim Cramer, has thanked the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, for not approving a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Cramer is a former hedge fund manager who co-founded Thestreet.com, a financial news and literacy website.

The Mad Money host tweeted Friday:

Thank you, SEC Chief Gary Gensler for standing up to the crypto bullies who wanted an ETF. They could have been blown to kingdom come by Genesis Global, now filing for bankruptcy.

Crypto lender Genesis Global Capital LLC is part of a subsidiary of venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG). Genesis filed for bankruptcy following an SEC lawsuit alleging that the company and crypto exchange Gemini offered and sold unregistered securities to retail investors through the Gemini Earn crypto asset lending program.

Another DCG subsidiary is digital asset manager Grayscale Investments, which has been trying to convert its flagship Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot bitcoin ETF. However, the securities watchdog has not approved the company’s filing. In June last year, Grayscale filed a lawsuit against the SEC challenging the regulator’s decision to reject its bitcoin ETF application.

In addition, Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Eastern District of New York and the SEC are investigating internal transfers between Genesis and DCG.

Many People Disagree With Cramer

Many bitcoin proponents on Twitter disagreed with the Mad Money host. Lawyer John Deaton wrote: “So anyone who favored a spot BTC ETF is a bully? Cramer believes people were protected by Gary Gensler NOT granting a spot ETF, even though BTC futures and short ETFs exist. These companies didn’t get in trouble because of bitcoin.” ETF Store President Nate Geraci opined:

I would argue exact opposite… SEC failing to approve spot ETF led to rise of GBTC arbitrage trade (where large accredited investors took advantage of retail). Meaningful portion of Genesis solvency issues stem from lending to 3AC, etc to execute that arbitrage trade (which blew up).

Cramer has repeatedly warned about the SEC doing a “roundup” of uncompliant crypto firms, advising investors to get out of crypto now. “I wouldn’t touch crypto in a million years,” the Mad Money host stressed. He often cited John Reed Stark, SEC’s former head of internet enforcement, who recently said a “regulatory onslaught is just beginning.” Following the SEC lawsuit against Gemini and Genesis, Cramer tweeted: “Here comes the crackdown: Genesis and Gemini are first. We have had a fabulous short squeeze run. Ka-ching. Ka-ching.”

5. Scam Alert: Your NFTs and Crypto Wallet Can Be Drained With This Email.

Josh Chavez took to Twitter to share a sad story about a dangerous scam he was targeted by. Fraudsters used an old technique with an infected file in documents attached to an email message. NFT artist gets scammed by malefactors from Instagram On Jan. 19, 2022, Josh M. Chavez, an American digital artist, announced that scammers stole all tokens and NFTs from his on-chain crypto wallet MetaMask.

The artist unveiled that he had been contacted by a potential client via direct messages on Instagram. Despite the account of the "customer" being mass-followed by bots, Chavez decided to ignore this fact. The stranger ordered cover art for their soon-to-be-released song. Chavez asked them to send details of the request, including information about the release, budget, concept, references and so on. All these details were sent to Chavez by email.

The scammer, using the name "Oscar Davies," sent the documents; one of them was labelled as a .pdf but actually had the .exe filename extension. EXE-files are designed to execute computer programs when opened. Once the file was opened, it was immediately bound to Chrome, the browser MetaMask wallets are integrated in. In the blink of an eye, it drained tokens from MetaMask and sold all NFTs on auctions for a tiny fraction of their real prices. Tricky scams in NFT segment are on fire Chavez highlights that the whole procedure of social engineering was created masterfully: despite his expertise, he failed to notice red flags: I live on the internet and can spot scams a mile away, but today I forgot to double check one small detail (...) I was not only in a rush, this was a routine thing - something I've complacently done many times on end with clients As covered by U.Today previously, prominent actors of the NFT market were targeted by sophisticated scam campaigns in Q4, 2022, - Q1, 2023. In November, attackers hacked the social media of Greg Solano, the founder of BAYC, and started spreading phishing links.