News Updates January 30, 2023

1. Bitcoin, Ethereum Prices Fall as Market Braces for More Fed Rate Hikes

BTC and ETH followed U.S. stocks today for losses of 5% and 6% on the day, respectively.

Bitcoin has dropped—taking the rest of the crypto market with it—as traders de-risked ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday announcement where the central bank is expected to continue to hike interest rates.

The biggest digital asset by market cap is trading for $22,787, down 4.4% in 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.

Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency, has shed nearly 6% of its value, priced at $1,551. 

And of the biggest coins and tokens, Solana has been hit the hardest: it’s down 10% in the past day, currently trading hands for $23.57. 

The crypto market is following U.S. equities (as it typically does)—and stocks have been hit hard today. The S&P500 is down 45 points, or 1.1%, to 4,025; the tech-heavy Nasdaq has dropped 198 points, or 1.7%, to 11,423.

Traders are shifting “risky” assets because the Federal Reserve is this week expected to continue its aggressive monetary policy in order to get inflation under control in the U.S. 

The Fed last year raised interest rates seven times, making risky assets—assets that can be volatile, like Bitcoin or tech stocks—less attractive. Investors instead retreated to greenbacks, and today the U.S. dollar experienced gains: the U.S. Dollar Index was up 0.32% Monday. 

America’s central bank started off last year aggressively upping interest rates by 75 basis points four times. But it then slowed down by raising rates by only 50 basis points. Market analysts expect an even smaller increase this time around, with most predicting a rate hike of 25 basis points. Higher interest rates make borrowing more costly and mean that people eventually spend less. 

2. Elon Musk Wants Twitter Payments System to Accommodate Crypto: FT

Twitter is designing a system to permit payments through the social-media platform, and while billionaire owner Elon Musk wants it "first and foremost" to be for fiat currencies, he wants the ability to add cryptocurrencies later, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Dogecoin (DOGE) spiked to its 24-hour high after the news broke. Musk has long professed a love of the meme coin.

3. TOP-54 Crypto Persons of 2022 According to Cryptonews.net

The Cryptonews.net team has developed a media rating of people in the cryptocurrency industry for 2022. A group of specialists analyzed the headlines and content of the most popular Crypto News app news feeds, based on which it is possible to estimate the media weight of each person, both at the current moment (2022) and compared to the previous period (2021).

Briefly about the methodology

Only 54 persons got into the final rating – we called this concept “Mighty Deck”, by the number of playing cards in the deck. Although, there were mentions of several thousand people from the crypto industry in the total amount of content! The team resorted to both automatic and manual selection to analyze the impressive array of information. The final % of each person being mentioned was calculated from the total number of people in the final list.

To the final rating page

Here are a few parameters on the basis of which the rating of persons was compiled:

· the number of mentions of a person only in headlines,

· the number of unique mentions of a person only in texts,

· the number of mentions of a person only in texts,

· % of mentions of a person only in headlines,

· % of unique mentions of a person only in texts,

· % of mentions of a person only in texts.

How this rating can be useful

The rating allows you to evaluate the media weight of each person and understand how important and market-influencing were their appearances in the media. This information can be used for cryptocurrency rates and market behaviour analysis. Analysts can use this information to make forecasts depending on the appearance of certain people in the media sphere.

4. Crypto Markets Analysis: Bitcoin 'Whale' Deposits on Exchanges Surpass Withdrawals

Holders of large amounts of bitcoin may be looking to take early profits, which could send the price lower – although probably not enough to rock markets.

"Whale" investors have recently been depositing bitcoin to exchanges faster than they’ve been withdrawing the asset, a possible sign of near-term profit taking that could send prices lower.

But this resulting price movement is unlikely to upset markets significantly.

Whales are investors holding at least 1,000 bitcoin. Because whales control large amounts of BTC, their purchases and sales can have an outsized impact on markets. Tracking their activity can offer insights into potential price direction.

Per on-chain intelligence firm Glassnode, the net volume of BTC from wallets to exchanges has been increasing since Jan. 22. The movement of coins onto exchanges is often a bearish signal reflecting investors intent to sell assets.

To be sure, the number of whale deposits to exchanges has declined in recent weeks, which in isolation is bullish. But the volume of deposits to exchanges exceeds the number of withdrawals on a relative basis, which is not. The withdrawal of assets from exchanges is generally a bullish signal.

Historically, the net volume metric tends to move in waves. Although the current development does not guarantee a selling spree, it may foreshadow what larger investors will do. A prolonged movement of bitcoin to exchanges would signal that larger holders are preparing to sell, which could lead to a price drop. The movement is in early stages, though.

The number of whales overall, which hit a three-year low of 1,670 on Jan. 1, has more recently inched up to 1,678.

Bitcoin’s price has increased 40% over the same time period. The sharp push higher has left investors with the tempting prospect of taking profits. While the aggregate increase in the total number of whales is negligible, the direction of change warrants monitoring.

5. Hackers Transfer Over $3.26 Million in Ethereum from CreamFinance

An anonymous address labeled as an exploiter by CreamFinance has transferred 365.7 Ethereum, worth approximately $600,000, to the crypto exchange TradeOgre, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Glassnode.

This marks the latest in a series of large transfers from the address, which has reportedly sent a total of 2,070 Ethereum, worth around $3.26 million, to TradeOgre since January 09, 2023.

CreamFinance Hackers Attempt to Liquidate Assets

The exact nature of the exploitation and the identity of the exploiters remain unknown, and CreamFinance, the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that was targeted, has yet to release a statement on the matter. However, the large transfers to TradeOgre suggest that the exploiters may be attempting to liquidate their illicit gains.

TradeOgre is a crypto exchange platform that allows users to buy, sell, and trade digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. It is considered as a decentralized exchange and does not require any personal information to create an account.

This incident highlights the ongoing vulnerability of DeFi platforms to exploitation and the potential for significant financial losses for users. It also raises questions about the security and oversight of decentralized systems, as well as the ability of authorities to track and prosecute those responsible for such exploits.