One of the most significant transitions to occur for the cryptocurrency ecosystem since the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) has been the increasing dominance of proof-of-stake (PoS) protocols over the proof-of-work (PoW) model, primarily due to energy requirements of the PoW model and growing concern over its environmental impact. As more projects launch or transition to the PoS model, a new class of protocols have emerged that are focused on offering liquid staking options that allow token holders to tap into the value held in their staked tokens while still earning a yield for locking their assets on the network. pStake …

Bitcoin (BTC) dipped below $38,000 on Feb. 21 but the bulls are attempting to arrest the decline and start a recovery. The sustained weakness in 2022 seems to have toned down expectations of a strong rally. Huobi crypto exchange co-founder Du Jun said that if the Bitcoin halving cycle repeats, then the current weakness could be the start of a bear market. Jun believes that the next Bitcoin bull cycle is expected to begin either at the end of 2024 or at the beginning of 2025. In the short term, crypto markets are likely to be influenced by the geopolitical …

A rebound move witnessed in the Solana (SOL) market this weekend exhausted midway as its price dropped below the $90 level from a high of $96 on Feb. 21. In doing so, SOL price technicals are now risking a classic bearish reversal setup. Solana price risks dropping to $60 Dubbed head-and-shoulders (H&S), the technical pattern emerges when the price forms three peaks in a row atop a common support level (called neckline). As it typically turns out, the pattern's middle peak, called "head," comes longer than the other two peaks, called left and right shoulders, which come to be of …

Russia’s massive build-up of soldiers, warplanes, equipment and extended military drills near Ukraine’s borders increased fears of a possible invasion within the next few days. That could have renewed selling in Bitcoin (BTC), which plummeted below the strong support at $39,600. Among the gloom and doom, there is a ray of hope for crypto investors because data from Glassnode shows that more than 60% of Bitcoin supply has not been used in any transaction for more than a year. This suggests that long-term hodlers are not dumping their positions in the downtrend. Mike McGlone, chief commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, …

A new class-action lawsuit demands a jury trial against A-list celebrities and social influencers for their alleged participation in a classic pump and dump scheme relating to SafeMoon tokens. SafeMoon, a Binance Smart Chain-native cryptocurrency, allegedly recruited a number of celebrities to lure investors in with misleading promotions. Some of the prominent names roped in by the class action include musicians such as Nick Carter, Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty and YouTubers Jake Paul and Ben Phillips. According to the lawsuit, SafeMoon and its subsidiaries mimicked real-life Ponzi schemes by misleading investors to purchase SafeMoon tokens under the pretext of unrealistic …

After a month-long fight against an ongoing exploit, cross-chain router protocol Multichain announced the recovery of nearly 50% of the total stolen funds, worth nearly $2.6 million of cryptocurrencies. The team has also released a compensation plan to reimburse the users’ losses. On Jan. 10, blockchain security expert Dedaub alerted Multichain about two vulnerabilities in its liquidity pool and router contracts — affecting eight cryptocurrencies including wrapped ETH (WETH), wrapped BNB (WBNB), Polygon (MATIC) and Avalanche (AVAX). 1/3 We recently identified the "phantom functions" code pattern, which would have led to likely the largest crypto hack ever. Your code may …

Late Friday afternoon, decentralized finance, or DeFi, investigator @zachxbt published a series of tweets accusing fraudster Omar Zaki of hiding behind the facade of 0xbrainjar, the anonymous head of product at Composable Finance. From last November to this February, Composable Finance raised over $167 million through seed funding, as well as crowdloan auctions on the Polkadot (DOT) and Kusama (KSM) parachains. Over 9,000 participants contributed to the DOT crowdloan alone. As told by zachxbt, who cited documents from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, Omar Zaki, then a 21-year-old New York resident and graduate of Yale University with …

NFTs continue to make an impact on multiple sectors, and this mainstreaming is opening up new opportunities and revealing new trends for blockchain technology. Recently, the real estate sector has shown interest in blockchain technology because it opens up the potential for fractionalized ownership, cryptocurrency-backed mortgages and other unique ownership, financing and payment models. Here’s a look at a few real estate-oriented blockchain projects that are to integrate decentralized finance, cryptocurrency payments and nonfungible tokens (NFT) to the sector. Propy Propy is the largest real estate-focused protocol in the cryptocurrency market, and it’s focused on automating home buying and making …

Bitcoin (BTC) sold off along with the U.S. equity markets on Feb. 17 on reports that Russia expelled Bart Gorman, the second highest-ranking American official from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and U.S. President Joe Biden cautioned that the threat of a Ukrainian invasion by Russia remains “very high.” Although the near-term correlation between Bitcoin and the U.S. equity markets remains high, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead said in a recent newsletter that the “markets will decouple soon.” Morehead mentioned that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate hikes will be negative for bonds, stocks and real estate and cryptocurrencies may be …

In a tweet published early Friday, Do Kwon, founder of Terraform Labs, the entity developing the Terra Luna (LUNA) and Terra USD (UST) stablecoin ecosystem, announced the injection of 450 million UST ($450 million) into the Anchor protocol's reserves. The proposal passed a vote by the Luna Foundation Guard on Feb.10. Anchor serves as the flagship savings protocol of the Terra ecosystem, offering users of up to 20% interest per annum on their UST deposits, paid for by borrowers. Funded. pic.twitter.com/NLvnSa0bBu — Do Kwon (@stablekwon) February 18, 2022 The protocol's reserves had recently dwindled to as low as $6.56 million …

Bitcoin (BTC) fell through $40,000 as Wall Street opened on Feb. 18 with analysts watching lower levels. Bitcoin falls to two-week lows Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD teasing a $40,000 breakdown throughout Friday, with several attempts seeing bounces higher before the level finally gave way. At the time of writing, the situation was still unclear, with 24-hour losses for the pair approaching 5% and volatility heightened. The last time that Bitcoin traded below $40,000 was on Feb. 4, making current levels a two-week low. Correlation to stocks, themselves rattled by the Federal Reserve and geopolitical tensions, …

The CEO and founder of leading blockchain venture fund Pantera Capital, Dan Morehead, stated that digital assets will be the “best place” to store capital following the potential fallout of interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Investors across stock and crypto markets are currently fixated on the direction the Fed might take to combat rising inflation which topped 7.5% as of this month. Bitcoin and crypto markets have often moved in correlation to trends in the stock market, however, Morehead argued in his Feb. 16 newsletter that bonds, stocks, and real estate will cop the brunt of the …