Historical data around crypto crashes revealed that 14 crypto exchanges, together, were responsible for the loss of at least 1,195,000 BTC, representing 6.3% of the 19.2 Bitcoin currently in circulation.

One of the biggest factors differentiating Bitcoin (BTC) from fiat currency and most cryptocurrencies is the hard limit of 21 million on its total circulating supply. However, the demise of numerous crypto exchanges over the last decade has permanently taken out at least 5.7% (1.2 million BTC) of the total issuable Bitcoin from circulation.

The lack of clarity around a crypto exchange’s proof of reserves came out as the primary reason for their sudden collapses, as seen recently with FTX. Historical data around crypto crashes revealed that 14 crypto exchanges, together, were responsible for the loss of 1,195,000 BTC, which represents 6.3% of the 19.2 Bitcoin currently in circulation.

An investigation conducted by Jameson Lopp, co-founder and chief technology officer of Bitcoin storage platform CasaHODL, revealed that Mt. Gox maintains the top position when it comes to exchanges losing BTC holdings.

While the scarcity of Bitcoin is directly related to its value as an asset, Lopp pointed out that fake Bitcoin offerings currently threaten the ecosystem, adding that “Bitcoin will not be a great store of value if most people are buying fake bitcoin.” Investigations confirm that at least 80 crypto assets have “Bitcoin” in their names, aimed purely to mislead BTC investors.

As a result, investors purchasing fake Bitcoin assets negatively impact the price appreciation of the original Bitcoin.

80+ crypto assets have the word "bitcoin" in their name.
14 have a market cap over $1,000,000.
3 claim to be Bitcoin.
1 is Bitcoin.

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) September 22, 2022

To ensure Bitcoin’s position as sound money, self-custody comes out as the most effective way to reduce reliance on crypto exchanges and corporate “paper Bitcoin” contracts.

Related: Blockstream CEO Adam Back talks Bitcoin over a game of Jenga

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced plans to acquire 1 BTC every day starting from Nov. 17, 2022.

We are buying one #Bitcoin every day starting tomorrow.

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) November 17, 2022

Public records show that El Salvador currently holds 2,381 BTC at an average buying price of $43,357. However, stagnant Bitcoin performance opened up a window of opportunity for the country to substantially bring down its average price of Bitcoin acquisition.

Original: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-scarcity-rises-as-bad-exchanges-take-1-2m-btc-out-of-circulation
By: Arijit Sarkar
Posted: November 19, 2022, 6:54 am

Grayscale shared a letter from Coinbase Custody attesting that each of Grayscale’s crypto products is fully backed, but stopped short of providing the wallet addresses.

Cryptocurrency investment product provider Grayscale Investments has refused to provide on-chain proof of reserves or wallet addresses to show the underlying assets of its digital currency products citing “security concerns.”

In a Nov. 18 Twitter thread addressing investor concerns, Grayscale laid out information regarding the security and storage of its crypto holdings and said all crypto underlying its investment products are stored with Coinbase’s custody service, stopping short of revealing the wallet addresses.

6) Coinbase frequently performs on-chain validation. Due to security concerns, we do not make such on-chain wallet information and confirmation information publicly available through a cryptographic Proof-of-Reserve, or other advanced cryptographic accounting procedure.

— Grayscale (@Grayscale) November 18, 2022

“We know the preceding point in particular will be a disappointment to some,” Grayscale added, “but panic sparked by others is not a good enough reason to circumvent complex security arrangements that have kept our investors’ assets safe for years.”

The move by Grayscale comes as pressure mounts on crypto businesses to introduce proof of reserves in the wake of FTX’s liquidity issues and subsequent bankruptcy.

Some Twitter users hit out at Grayscale’s view that security concerns surrounded its decision to withhold its wallet addresses, with one commenting the addresses of Bitcoin (BTC) inventor Satoshi Nakamoto are well known and are of higher value to attackers, “yet Satoshi's Bitcoin remains secure.”

Grayscale shared a letter co-signed by Coinbase chief financial officer Alesia Haas and Coinbase Custody CEO Aaron Schnarch that broke down Grayscale’s holdings by its investment products and reaffirmed the assets “are secure,” that each product has its “own on-chain addresses” and the crypto always belongs “to the applicable Grayscale product.”

Grayscale added that each of its products is set up as a separate legal entity and “laws, regulations, and documents [...] prohibit the digital assets underlying the products from being lent, borrowed, or otherwise encumbered.”

Related: Nickel Digital, Metaplex and others continue to feel the impact of FTX collapse

Grayscale is known for its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), a security tracking the price of Bitcoin, it also has products tracking the price of other cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL).

Investor concerns come as Genesis Global, serving as the liquidity provider for GBTC, announced on Nov. 16 that it had halted withdrawals, citing “unprecedented market turmoil” resulting in significant withdrawals from its platform that exceeded its current liquidity.

Genesis is a part of the crypto-focused venture capital company Digital Currency Group (DCG) which also owns Grayscale. GBTC is trading at a discount of nearly 43% compared to its net asset value in part due to investor speculation on GBTC’s exposure to Genesis.

Original: https://cointelegraph.com/news/grayscale-cites-security-concerns-for-withholding-on-chain-proof-of-reserves
By: Jesse Coghlan
Posted: November 19, 2022, 1:41 am

In the past 48 hours Bitcoin traders added to their leveraged long positions even as crypto critics and politicians ramp up their criticism of cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin (BTC) price has tested the $16,000 resistance multiple times since the 25% crash that occurred between Nov. 7 and Nov. 9, and some critics will justify their bearish bias by incorrectly assuming that the failure of FTX exchange should trigger a much broader correction.

It's kind of annoying me that Bitcoin is still selling for $16k-ish, even in the wake of all of this FTX news. I mean I assume the volume is low, but what on earth will it take to properly crush this zombie "currency" back to its rightful value of nearly zero?

— Daniel Knowles (@dlknowles) November 18, 2022

For example, Daniel Knowles, a correspondent at The Economist, says the 26th largest tradable asset in the world with a $322 billion market capitalization is “astonishingly useless and wasteful.” Knowles also said that “there is still no logical case for specifically Bitcoin. It's pure ponzi.”

If you think it through, for outsiders, Bitcoin’s price is the single most important indicator of success, regardless of its valuation surpassing secular companies such as Nestle (NESN.SW), Bank of America (BAC) and Coca-Cola (KO).

Most people’s need for centralized authority over their money is so entrenched that cryptocurrency exchanges’ success and failure rate becomes the gatekeeper and success benchmark, when in fact, quite the opposite is true. Bitcoin was created as a peer-to-peer monetary transmission network, so exchanges are not synonyms for adoption.

It is worth highlighting that Bitcoin has been trying to break above $17,000 for the past seven days, so there is certainly a lack of appetite from buyers above that level. The most likely reason is that investors fear contagion risks, similar to what was seen with Genesis Block, the last FTX-related victim to halt service due to liquidity concerns. According to recent reports, the company announced plans to cease trading and shutter operations.

Bitcoin price is stuck in a downtrend, and it will be hard to shake it, but it’s a fallacy to assume that centralized cryptocurrency exchange failure is the primary reason for Bitcoin’s downtrend or a reflection of its actual value.

Let’s look at crypto derivatives data to understand whether investors remain risk-averse to Bitcoin.

Futures markets are in backwardation and this is bearish

Fixed-month futures contracts usually trade at a slight premium to regular spot markets because sellers demand more money to withhold settlement for longer. Technically known as contango, this situation is not exclusive to crypto assets.

In healthy markets, futures should trade at a 4% to 8% annualized premium, which is enough to compensate for the risks plus the cost of capital.

Considering the data above, it is evident that derivatives traders flipped bearish on Nov. 9, as the Bitcoin futures premium entered backwardation, meaning the demand for shorts — bearish bets — is extremely high. This data reflects professional traders’ unwillingness to add leveraged long (bull) positions despite the inverted cost.

The longs-to-shorts ratio shows a more balanced situation

To exclude externalities that might have solely impacted the quarterly contracts, traders should analyze the top traders’ long-to-short ratio. It gathers data from exchange clients’ positions on the spot, perpetual and fixed-calendar futures contracts, thus better informing on how professional traders are positioned.

There are occasional methodological discrepancies between different exchanges, so readers should monitor changes instead of absolute figures.

Even though Bitcoin failed to break the $17,000 resistance on Nov. 18, professional traders slightly increased their leverage long positions according to the long-to-short indicator. For instance, the Huobi traders’ ratio improved from 0.93 on Nov. 16 and presently stands at 0.99.

Related: Crypto Biz, FTX fallout leaves blood in its wake

Similarly, OKX displayed a modest increase in its long-to-short ratio, as the indicator moved from 1.00 to the current 1.04 in two days. Lastly, the metric stood flat near 1.00 at the Binance exchange. Thus, such data show traders did not become bearish after the latest resistance rejection.

Consequently, one should not conclude that the futures backwardation considering the broader analysis of the long-to-short ratio, show no evidence of excessive bearish demand from whales and market makers.

It will likely take some time until investors exclude the potential regulatory and contagion risks caused by FTX and Alameda Research’s downfall. Until then, a sharp recovery for Bitcoin seems unlikely for the short term.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Original: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-traders-increase-leverage-longs-even-as-crypto-critics-say-btc-is-a-pure-ponzi
By: Marcel Pechman
Posted: November 18, 2022, 9:02 pm

Original: https://decrypt.co/114973/edward-snowden-ethereum-mixer-tornado-cash-illiberal-authoritarian
By: Daniel Roberts
Posted: November 18, 2022, 6:39 pm

Original: https://decrypt.co/115028/tether-usdt-1-billion-solana-ethereum
By: Mathew Di Salvo
Posted: November 18, 2022, 5:49 pm

Original: https://decrypt.co/114942/gemini-okx-crypto-severe-outflows-jpmorgan
By: Mathew Di Salvo
Posted: November 17, 2022, 7:22 pm

Original: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/11/17/jpmorgan-the-shrinking-stablecoin-market-is-another-sign-of-investors-exodus-from-crypto/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines
By: Will Canny
Posted: November 17, 2022, 11:56 am

Original: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/11/17/crypto-will-soon-threaten-global-financial-stability-fsb-official-says/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines
By: Lavender Au
Posted: November 17, 2022, 11:33 am

Original: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/17/wells-fargo-hsbc-add-offshore-yuan-to-blockchain-foreign-exchange-system/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines
By: Jamie Crawley
Posted: November 17, 2022, 11:16 am

Original: https://decrypt.co/114897/el-salvador-start-buying-1-bitcoin-every-day-says-president-bukele
By: Andrew Asmakov
Posted: November 17, 2022, 11:07 am

The new browser extension lets users store, send and receive crypto across all EVM chains and Solana.

Following the collapse of FTX and the bank run on crypto exchanges in general, self-custody Trust Wallet is gaining momentum. In one week, the company launched the long-anticipated browser extension and collaborated with Binance Pay and Coinbase Pay, whose users can now transfer their funds directly to a Trust Wallet account. 

On Nov. 14, Trust Wallet launched its browser extension, now available in Google Chrome and Opera browsers. The extension lets users store, send and receive crypto across all EVM chains and Solana. A network auto-detect function provides users with a seamless dApp experience without the need to manually add networks.

The extension also includes multi-wallet support, NFT support, fiat on-ramp providers, and non-EVM blockchain integrations, as well as hardware wallet support.

On Nov. 16, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, reported the launch of Binance Pay’s Trust Wallet integration. Now, Binance users won’t have to scan or input a wallet address, having their Trust Wallet among the direct withdrawal options. And it won’t cost anything above the blockchain gas fees. By press time, the function is supported solely on Trust Wallet App’s Android version, but Binance announces the iOS version “soon.”

The same integration will work with Coinbase Pay. According to Bipul Sinha, Group Product Manager at Coinbase, an ability for users to easily fund their self-custody wallet or dapps corresponds with the company's mission to "build a bridge to Web3."

Related: 3 barriers preventing Web3 mass adoption — Trust Wallet CEO

Earlier, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao publicly endorsed Trust Wallet, stating that “self-custody is a fundamental human right.” The move comes as no surprise, given that Binance owns the U.S.-founded wallet provider since 2018.

By Nov. 15, Trust Wallet Token (TWT) has surged by nearly 150% in six days, bucking the downturn in the cryptocurrency market, whose net capitalization has crashed by almost $100 billion in the same period. Meanwhile, the token’s trading volume has soared from 279 million TWT to 593.25 TWT in the same period, showcasing the market’s conviction in its uptrend.

Original: https://cointelegraph.com/news/trust-wallet-launches-browser-extension-integrates-with-binance-pay
By: David Attlee
Posted: November 17, 2022, 9:48 am

Cold feet are in charge as exchange users continue to move Bitcoin from exchanges to non-custodial wallets.

Bitcoin (BTC) has flooded out of exchanges in the past week as users become wary of security and regulatory scrutiny.

Data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass shows United States exchanges in particular seeing heavy BTC balance reductions.

U.S. exchanges lead BTC exodus

In the wake of the FTX scandal, efforts to draw attention to the risk involved in custodial BTC storage stepped up on social media.

Users appeared to heed the warning, withdrawing over $3 billion in cryptocurrency in the week immediately following the solvency debacle and ordering record numbers of hardware wallets.

The aftermath of FTX is only just beginning, meanwhile, and as regulators plan investigative action and more attention to crypto as a whole, investors angst continues to grow.

The data shows the trend is still in force when it comes to exchange withdrawals. In the past seven days, practically all major platforms have seen net withdrawals outpacing deposits.

The biggest weekly reduction comes from Gemini, down almost 30,000 BTC, closely followed by Kraken, Binance and Coinbase.

Unsurprisingly, U.S. exchanges have seen particularly heavy withdrawals, the jurisdiction due to play a key role in the FTX saga going forward.

This week, lawmakers announced a dedicated hearing into what happened at the exchange, with its ex-CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, reportedly due to be extradited to the U.S. from the Bahamas.

“The fall of FTX has posed tremendous harm to over one million users, many of whom were everyday people who invested their hard-earned savings into the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, only to watch it all disappear within a matter of seconds,” Maxine Waters, Chair of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, which will host the hearing, said, quoted by mainstream media.

The Coinglass figures meanwhile show that even those exchanges with no exposure to FTX have failed to stem the exodus.

In total for the week, 134,000 BTC has left their books — the equivalent of around $2.2 billion at current prices, with around $1.5 billion coming from U.S. platforms.

"Acute financial distress"

As Cointelegraph reported, while exchange withdrawals have surged, the average BTC hodler remains significantly underwater — and thus less than inclined to sell.

Related: Bitcoin price dips to $16.4K over Genesis woes as execs defend GBTC

Data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode confirms this. The average long-term holder (LTH) — an entity holding coins for at least 155 days — is 33% in the red.

This is almost unprecedented and matched only by the pit of the 2018 bear market, when the average tally hit 36%.

Accompanying comments described LTHs as undergoing “acute financial distress.”

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Original: https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-crypto-exchanges-lead-bitcoin-exodus-over-1-5b-in-btc-withdrawn-in-one-week
By: William Suberg
Posted: November 17, 2022, 9:36 am

Original: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/17/binance-to-relaunch-bid-for-bankrupt-lender-voyager-source/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines
By: Ian Allison
Posted: November 17, 2022, 8:46 am

Twitter users called out the removal of the ETH staking timeframe and with one describing staked ETH as a “non-redeemable” investment.

Days after Ethereum turns deflationary for the first time since shifting to proof-of-stake (PoS), critics have started to highlight the Ethereum Foundation’s removal of Ether (ETH) staking’s withdrawal schedule on social media. 

A crypto community member pointed out how Ethereum developers, leaders and influencers mentioned that ETH staking withdrawals might be opened six months after the Merge. After this, the estimated time for the unlock was moved to 6-12 months. Furthermore, the Twitter user highlighted that the schedule was revised into an estimated 2023 to 2024 before finally being removed entirely.

Another Twitter user fanned the flames, describing staked ETH as a non-redeemable crypto investment. The user highlighted that users invested based on a timeline and were given no due date. Others mirrored the sentiment by sharing retweets of the initial post that criticized the withdrawal timeframe.

On the other hand, Ethereum supporters gave their own responses to the criticisms. Anthony Sassano, the co-founder of Ethereum resource site ETHhub, came to the network’s defense by brushing off the criticisms as attempts of Bitcoin (BTC) maximalists to find other things to attack in Ethereum after being proven wrong by the Merge. Ethereum developer Antiprosynth also highlighted in a tweet that these criticisms are coming at a time when Ether's market dominance grows and Bitcoin's dominance goes down.

Related: Ethereum sees first consecutive week of deflationary issuance

Meanwhile, a recent FTX exploit made the attacker the 35th largest holder of ETH. One day after the distressed FTX exchange filed for bankruptcy, wallets in the exchange were compromised, losing over $600 million in crypto assets. A large portion of the hacked tokens was converted into 228,523 ETH, which is worth around $280 million at the time of writing.

In other news, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called out FTX for doing what he described as "compliance virtue signaling," comparing the embattled exchange to Mt. Gox and Luna, which were sketchy from the start, according to Buterin. The Ethereum co-founder highlighted that this type of fraud hurts more than the other.

Original: https://cointelegraph.com/news/ether-staking-withdrawal-schedule-removal-faces-harsh-criticism
By: Ezra Reguerra
Posted: November 17, 2022, 7:53 am

Original: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/11/17/ether-staking-yields-jump-up-to-25-all-time-high-since-merge/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=headlines
By: Shaurya Malwa
Posted: November 17, 2022, 7:18 am