Crypto Weekly Tidbits: Gemini Expansion, China Targets U.S. Dollar Hegemony

Summary ApeCoin has been one of the best-performing crypto assets since the FTX-fueled crypto crash in early November. Token holders have increased over the last several months, in part because of the lead-up to APE staking. Horizon Labs is developing APE staking but will be geo-blocking US consumers from accessing the official front-end application of the smart contract. 2022 has been a horrible year for just about every single cryptocurrency or blockchain-based asset. There are numerous examples of the breadth of the speculative mania that was digital assets from 2020-2021, but the best example of deviation from value reality may have been from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (or BAYC) NFTs. I detailed what I felt was a massive overvaluation of the "ape ecosystem" in late April 2022 in a post called " Insanity of the Apes ." At the time, the market cap of the original BAYC was $4.3 billion based on a 147 Ethereum (ETH-USD) floor price per NFT - that floor price is now just 64.44 ETH. At a $1,290 ETH price, the 10,000 ape pictures now have a collection market cap of $832 million. Meaning the BAYC collection has collapsed 80% in value since that subscriber-only article. Interestingly, ApeCoin ( APE-USD ), the official currency of the ape ecosystem has actually held up better and is up substantially since the FTX-induced crypto collapse from early November: Since FTX Collapse (Seeking Alpha) ApeCoin is now up nearly 50% from the depths of the crypto selloff caused by the collapses of FTX (FTT-USD) and Alameda Research earlier this month. ApeCoin is now beating both Ethereum and Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) over the last several weeks. Why did ApeCoin go up? The biggest catalyst that ApeCoin currently has is the activation of ApeCoin staking. The ability to stake APE is something that Horizon ( ZEN-USD ) developer Horizon Labs has been working on. While previous target dates have been pushed back, Horizon Labs has announced December 5th for the launch of apestake.io with reward accrual to begin on December 12th. According to Horizon Labs, there are four different staking pools that will allow ape ecosystem participants to get returns on their staked assets: ApeCoin pool BAYC pool MAYC pool Paired pool The staked assets and token allocations vary by pool. But the lowest barrier to entry for Ape staking is simply with the APE token where there is no minimum threshold for staking rewards. In anticipation of the ability to stake assets, the amount of total holders of APE has increased from a little under 91k at the beginning of October to over 103k now: APE Holders (Dune Analytics/Marcov) At least some of that November spike in token holders is likely attributable to the movement toward taking assets out of centralized exchanges that has been broadly felt throughout crypto, but there is no denying the trend in APE token holders has been positive even before the FTX blowup. How to stake ApeCoin Like just about any staking asset in the cryptocurrency space, users who wish to stake their coins can engage directly with the smart contracts if they are technically savvy enough. This is generally not how people typically stake assets, however, as developers usually provide front-end applications that allow DeFi users to engage with the contracts with much less effort. This will not necessarily be the case for ApeCoin initially depending on which jurisdiction the user is in. In its pre-launch summary, Horizon Labs indicated that it will be geo-blocking several countries from interacting with apestake.io, including the United States and Canada. We are aware that geoblocking some users in North America is inconvenient for many members of the ApeCoin community. Unfortunately, in today’s regulatory environment, we had no good alternative Given Horizon Labs' presence in the crypto community elsewhere, this action may not be because of fears of crypto regulation broadly. It is possibly more out of an abundance of caution with the Ape ecosystem and APE specifically. The SEC is probing BAYC creators Yuga Labs and APE distribution is reportedly part of that investigation. This alone should give investors pause when entertaining the idea of buying ApeCoin. But even if the SEC probe wasn't a factor, there is still a lot I don't like about APE as an investment today. Is ApeCoin a good investment? We've seen other instances of coins under SEC scrutiny not getting listed on the major exchanges, Ripple ( XRP-USD ) being the best example. That said, just because something may face SEC scrutiny doesn't mean it's a terrible investment if it has value in other jurisdictions. Still though, I can't get behind buying APE today given the level of coin dilution that is still scheduled through 2025. APE Supply Schedule (Messari) There are still just 361 million of the 1 billion APE coin supply in circulation. At just 36% circulating supply, APE still has a very high level of inflation remaining before the max supply is met. Market Cap Rank Creator Coin Circulating Supply 31 ApeCoin 36% 42 Chiliz ( CHZ-USD ) 69% 44 THETA Network ( THETA-USD ) 100% 49 The Sandbox ( SAND-USD ) 50% 84 Basic Attention Token ( BAT-USD ) 100% Source: CoinMarketCap It's true that APE was just released this year, but that is one of the lowest circulating supply levels of the top creator coins in the entire crypto market. Dune Analytics/Carl5 Furthermore, ApeCoin is supposed to serve as a payment coin in the ape ecosystem, yet the weekly active users of the coin have been steadily declining over the last several months and haven't sniffed the peak from the coin's launch. Summary I think there are too many other coins that are more interesting in this market to justify going long APE given the obvious regulatory concerns, the low engagement with the coin, and the high remaining level of dilution. I think the surge in token holders can probably be linked to the expectation of staking rewards. The problem is there are many who have likely bought the coin to generate those rewards who will not be able to interact with the developer's staking interface because of geo-blocking in the U.S., Canada, and other countries. To be fair, other developers who are not associated with Horizon Labs or ApeCoin can also create a front-end solution that will enable APE staking in the U.S. and elsewhere, but Horizon Labs is clearly avoiding the market for a reason. Because of that, I think it would be wise to avoid going through other actors to facilitate staking APE token. There may come a time when Yuga Labs and the ape ecosystem have the all-clear from regulators to continue building what they're attempting to build. At that time, APE might become more interesting if the ape ecosystem can maintain interest beyond crypto winter. You can read my previous ApeCoin article from May if you would like more insight into the ecosystem. But until we have regulatory clarity, I personally am not touching APE. While I would definitely not short it, I think holders would be wise to swap out.

Data shows the Bitcoin mining hashrate has continued its sharp plunge in the past week, as miners give up due to low revenues. Bitcoin 7-Day Average Mining Hashrate Has Rapidly Gone Down Recently According to the latest weekly report from Arcane Research, a miner capitulation might not have much impact on the price this time.

Promise of new Bitcoin proved to be just hype and not a need for cryptocurrency market

Meme coin's price performance is somewhat unusual, and here's the reason why

Solana’s weekly chart was green and the metrics supported a positive outlook On the other hand, SOL’s Bollinger Band and RSI flashed bearish signals Solana [SOL] has been drifting away from the top ten list of cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization for quite a few weeks now. Though Solana failed to impress its investors,

Here’s what happened during the New York Times exclusive interview with Sam Bankman-Fried on FTX’s collapse.

Bitcoin ($BTC) whales have accumulated over $800 million worth of the flagship cryptocurrency in only five days as a selling trend for large investors is reversing, which could signal growing confidence in the market. According to on-chain analytics firm Santiment, Bitcoin whales have spent a total of 13 months divesting their holdings as cryptocurrency prices

Decentralized exchange GMX has seen a material increase since the FTX implosion establishing itself as a notable market contender.

A popular crypto strategist says Litecoin (LTC), Apecoin (APE) and SushiSwap (SUSHI) appear ready to rally against the bear market. Pseudonymous analyst Altcoin Sherpa tells his 184,700 Twitter followers that the three digital assets are the most likely to show upward price action. “Best current coins to long in the short term IMO [in my The post Litecoin (LTC), Apecoin (APE) and One DeFi Altcoin Looking Ripe for Rallies, According to Popular Crypto Analyst appeared first on The Daily Hodl .

The founder of messaging app Telegram is announcing the development of a new decentralized exchange (DEX) platform and crypto wallet. In a new post to his channel, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov says that blockchain developers should go back to the roots of crypto and focus on decentralization as centralized entities tend to abuse The post Telegram Will Build New Decentralized Exchange and Crypto Wallet, According to Founder Pavel Durov appeared first on The Daily Hodl .

The former FTX CEO said he was unaware of the exchange funneling assets to Alameda, but on-chain data suggests otherwise.

The crypto exchange is cutting 30% of its global staff. ALSO: Bitcoin surges along with equity markets on the Federal Reserve Chair’s dovish tone in a speech Wednesday. Crypto Markets Today is CoinDesk’s daily newsletter diving into what happened in today's crypto markets.

Summary The 9/29/22 article predicted the price of bitcoin would decline due to the weakness of the business cycle. The business cycle continued to deteriorate due to a sharp slowdown. Bitcoin declines when the business cycle slows down. THE BUSINESS CYCLE (The Peter Dag Portfolio Strategy and Management) The 9/29/22 article correctly predicted “ The tightening of the Fed and the inventory correction will force commodities and Bitcoin prices to continue to decline .” Let us see if monetary and economic conditions have changed enough to alter the downtrend of Bitcoin (BTC-USD). The business cycle is in Phase 4. This is the most treacherous phase for the economy, the financial markets, and investors. This is the time when all the excesses created in Phase 1 and Phase 2 are corrected. In 2022, for instance, the generous stimulus programs and the Fed’s aggressive injection of liquidity were followed by record breaking growth of the economy. M2 and GDP (FRED, The Peter Dag Portfolio Strategy and Management ) The money supply M2 soared 26.9% y/y and real GDP responded with a lag of several months with an unsustainable growth of 12.5% y/y (see above chart). Commodities responded promptly to the strengthening economy. Copper and crude oil soared in response to the extreme demand caused by government and Fed stimulus programs. CPI (The Peter Dag Portfolio Strategy and Management, FRED) Inflation quickly rose because of the stronger economy and sharply higher commodities (see above chart). As inflation started to impact real income, consumers’ sentiment collapsed. This was the signal the business cycle entered in Phase 3. This trend was further reinforced by a sharp slowdown in M2 (see first chart) and flattening of the yield curve (10s/2s). Business, however, continued to increase production responding to the sharp increase in demand following the lockdown. Inventories were accumulated at a double-digit pace when real inventory growth has historically been expanding in the 3%-6% range. Production is now slowing down as companies need to reduce the huge inventory levels. The business cycle is now in Phase 4. As mentioned above, this is the phase when all the excesses must be brought under control to reestablish consumers’ purchasing power. Inventories must be liquidated. This is achieved by reducing production and lowering prices. Raw material purchases are reduced, placing down pressure on commodities. Borrowing is curtailed as programs to improve or increase capacity are delayed with the immediate effect of facilitating lower interest rates. Phase 1 will begin when M2 starts rising again, the yield curve steepens, and interest rates and inflation decline in a major way, enough to lift consumers’ optimism. Bitcoin and Copper (The Peter Dag Portfolio Strategy and Management, StockCharts) Bitcoin, like commodities, responds to trends of the business cycle and liquidity. The above chart shows the main turning points of Bitcoin correspond to the same turning points of copper, one of the most sensitive commodities to business cycle trends. Bitcoin and Crude oil (The peter Dag Portfolio Strategy and Management, StockCharts) Bitcoin has also the same turning points of crude oil and of most other commodities (see above chart). The reason is commodities respond to changes in liquidity and business cycle trends. Commodities rise when the business cycle points to a strengthening economy. Commodities decline when the business cycle reflects a weakening economy. Key takeaways The sharp decline of the growth of M2 and the deep inversion of the yield curve point to much weaker economic conditions ahead. The business cycle is declining and is currently in Phase 4. The price of Bitcoin will decline and bottom when the business cycle moves into Phase 1. This is the time when most other commodities are also rising. This analysis suggests Bitcoin price behavior depends on the vagaries of a central bank monetary policy and changes of the business cycle. The reason is its price is affected by changes in the liquidity created by the banking system.

The exchanges will cooperate progressively in HT coin development, liquidity sharing and global compliance, plus Huobi will monitor Poloniex for new projects to list.

Most bitcoin mining stocks tracked by The Block rose on Wednesday. Bitcoin was trading at around $17,000 by market close, roughly a 3.6% increase.

Sam Bankman-Fried was speaking at the New York Times' DealBook Summit live on Nov. 30.

Disclaimer: The information presented does not constitute financial, investment, trading, or other types of advice and is solely the writer’s opinion UNI could reach the 50% Fib level in the next few days or weeks if BTC maintains its uptrend UNI’s open interest is rising, which is a bullish outlook for derivatives markets Like the

"I made a lot of mistakes, but I never tried to commit fraud," Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and ex-CEO of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, said Wednesday at the New York Times Dealbook conference. His remarks come despite reports that FTX loaned out over half of its customer funds (some $10B) to Alameda Research, an FTX-affiliated trading firm, in an attempt to fund risky bets. "I wasn't trying to commingle funds," Bankman-Fried said, even though Bloomberg reported earlier this week that some FTX customers were told to send wire transfers through Alameda, highlighting their tangled relationship despite the fact that FTX and Alameda were entirely separate businesses. FTX and Alameda, which owned a ton of FTX Token ( FTT-USD ), the crypto issued by FTX, were "substantially more" connected than intended, SBF said, while noting his "massive failure of risk management and oversight." He touched on his poor internal labeling of bank-related accounts, saying the FTT and solana ( SOL-USD ) used as collateral was not marked "the way I wish I had from a risk perspective." Starting on November 6, when Binance tweeted that it will sell its position in FTX Token ( FTT-USD ), SBF knew there was a problem about the potential for "substantial losses for Alameda. I didn’t think it was going to be a massive loss for FTX customers, more like Alameda is going to be really tight on funds." FTX and its more than 130 affiliates filed for bankruptcy on November 11 after the discovery of a multi-billion dollar balance sheet shortfall that triggered massive customer outflows. “I wasn’t running Alameda, I didn’t know exactly what was going on, I didn’t know the size of their position,” SBF said. “A lot of these are things I’ve learned over the last month When asked whether he's concerned about criminal liability, SBF responded, "I don't personally think I have... it's not what I'm focusing on. There will be a time and a place for me to think about myself and my future but this isn't it." 6:011 p.m. ET: Event concludes. 6:09 p.m. ET: SBF, a former billionaire, now has "close to nothing," he said when asked about how much money he has left. "I have one working credit card left. I think it might be $100K or something like that in that bank account. I put everything I had into FTX." 6:02 p.m. ET: SBF said he doesn't know what his future holds; "a lot of it is not in my hands at this point." Update at 5:50 p.m. ET: SBF's political donations "were mostly for pandemic prevention, on both sides of the aisle," SBF said. In FTX's first court hearing on November 22, a counsel to FTX said SBF treated his trading platform as his own "personal fiefdom."

The recent collapse of FTX, one of the industry’s largest and most trusted crypto exchanges, has opened the debate for setting standards to prove solvency in centralized exchanges. Since the...

Bitcoin price quickly pushed above the $17,000 level and major US stock indices exploded higher on the heels of some of the most dovish remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell in nearly a year. Don’t Fight The Dovish Fed Tone Change The quote “don’t fight the Fed” has never been more proven than in recent

Brazil’s lower house of Congress has finally passed the long-awaited crypto bill legalizing crypto payments in the country and enabling banks to start offering services in the sector.

The total crypto market recovers some lost ground as the contagion risks associated with FTX’s collapse begin to look resolvable.

Kraken joins Coinbase and CryptoCom in slashing a major portion of its workforce to survive the bear market.

Top on-chain analyst Willy Woo says that Bitcoin (BTC) is in an accumulation phase similar to the market bottoms of 2015 and 2018. In a new interview with Scott Melker, Woo says that buyers have recently stepped in to support Bitcoin, lowering its volatility and putting it in a sideways trend. “It’s that time in The post Top On-Chain Analyst Willy Woo Says Bitcoin Mirroring 2015 and 2018 Bottom Formation – Here’s His Forecast appeared first on The Daily Hodl .

Equities, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies shined on Wednesday following Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington. The crypto economy increased 3.11% to $860 billion, while the top four stock indexes jumped between 2% to 5% higher on Nov. 30. Stocks, Crypto, and Precious Metal Markets Jump Higher Against the Greenback

The former FTX CEO spoke publicly, weeks after FTX filed for bankruptcy protection and Bankman-Fried resigned from his role at the company.

Speaking the FIA meeting in Singapore, Christy Goldsmith Romero compared the typical crypto investor, who may be of modest means, with the investors the CFTC is used to.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink admitted that he may have been misled by FTX, alongside Sequoia.

Investors in the round included Ripple, SIX Fintech Ventures, and Middlegame Ventures.

Compound DAO had voted unanimously to implement changes in the rules of the protocol This move was motivated by the need to keep the protocol safe after the Aave exploit Recently, COMP holders at Compound Finance, a major player in the cryptocurrency loan industry, approved a proposition put out by the company. The current proposal

Has Binance Coin (BNB) become bearish again?

The policy clarification stated that participants cannot make threats, use extortion, or access customer data beyond what is accidental or occurs in good faith.

The crypto market is up today, possibly due to “positive” news from the United States Federal Reserve.

Major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and ethereum ( ETH-USD ) along with crypto-linked stocks have turned higher after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled the pace of interest-rate increases could slow down as soon as next month . After spending much of the past month below $17K after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) bounced 3.6% to $17.04K at 4:17 p.m. ET, as market participants cheered JPow's remarks. Ether ( ETH-USD ) climbed 5.7% to $1.29K at the time of writing. While the Fed chief indicated that the U.S. central bank may moderate the pace of its rate hikes starting at the December 13-14 gathering, he also emphasized the "ultimate level of rates will need to be somewhat higher than thought at the time of the September meeting" with inflation still well above its target. In other words, the inflation fight is yet to end hence no Fed pivot on the horizon. The Fed has lifted its benchmark rate by 75 basis points at each of its last four meetings. But for the December meeting, traders have been ratcheting up their bets for a 50-bp hike as Fed officials suggested over the past month or so a likely downshift in the pace of rate increases. As such, traders hedged for a 77.0% chance for a 50-bp move versus 66.3% in the prior day, according to CME's FedWatch tool . That would take the federal funds rate target range to 4.25%-4.50%, compared with policymaker's September projection of a 4.6% terminal rate in 2023. Crypto-related stocks, which are seen as high-beta versions of digital tokens, traded in a sea of green: MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) +8% , Galaxy Digital ( OTCPK:BRPHF ) +10% , Bit Digital ( BTBT ) +8.1% , Coinbase Global ( COIN ) +5.8% , Riot Blockchain ( RIOT ) +9.3% and Marathon Digital ( MARA ) +6.3% . In addition, the stock market rallied hard , with all three major U.S. stock indices climbing at least 2% despite a deeply inverted yield curve that's calling for an economic downturn. While the crypto ecosystem continues to feel the burn from the multi-billion dollar collapse of crypto exchange FTX, Brazil approved a bill to legalize crypto payments .

The Massachusetts senator, an outspoken skeptic of crypto, applauded the efforts of FDIC acting chair Martin Gruenberg to separate digital assets from banking.

Quick Take Founders Fund is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm founded in 2005 by Peter Thiel, Luke Nosek, Sean Parker, and Ken Howery Founders Fund has made 42 investments in the crypto/blockchain sector while utilizing a diversified approach In total, The Block has mapped out 33 unique companies across six categories that Founders Fund has invested in

Seoul's Southern District Prosecutors Office maintained Daniel Shin violated the Electronic Financial Transaction Act.

Prosecutors in Texas have slapped 21 U.S. citizens with an assortment of criminal charges for allegedly helping various transnational criminal rings launder their ill-gotten gains using cryptocurrency

Flare Networks has confirmed that the Flare (FLR) Token Distribution Event is slated to hold on the 9th of January 2023. The firm has also released the list of major crypto exchanges ready to distribute the tokens to XRP holders. According to the report, the exchanges agreed to distribute FLR to their customers within 2 The post Flare Confirms Date of FLR Distribution Event, Lists Exchanges Set to Airdrop FLR to XRP Holders appeared first on Times Tabloid .

Founder of Forex Club and Libertex, Vyacheslav Taran, dies in helicopter crash over Monaco. Continue reading Another Mysterious Crypto Death: Russian Billionaire Dies in Monaco Helicopter Crash at DailyCoin.com.

Data shows the Bitcoin spot trading volume outside Binance has fallen to its lowest value since the February of 2021. Bitcoin Trading Volume Continues To Tumble As Market Calms Down As per the latest weekly report from Arcane Research, volume including Binance is still at a high level right now. The “trading volume” here is

A new report claims Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Iris Energy’s investors are seeing a multimillion-dollar wipeout in the value of their holdings a year since the public listing. According to an Australian Financial Review, shares of Iris Energy, which is listed on the NASDAQ, have fallen by 94.5% since the initial public offering in November The post Top Asset Management Firms Suffer $220,000,000 in Losses From Bitcoin (BTC) Mining Investments: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl .

In its latest hearing on FTX, the committee looked to financial officials to assess the impact of FTX’s collapse in Europe and suggest a way forward.

San Francisco-based crypto exchange Coinbase is adding two altcoins to its listing roadmap. Coinbase announces that the governance token of decentralized finance (DeFi)-based non-fungible token (NFT) gaming protocol Aavegotchi (GHST) and the native token of cross-chain identity aggregator Litentry (LIT) are now on the roadmap. “Assets added to the roadmap today: Aavegotchi (GHST) and Litentry The post Coinbase Adds Ethereum (ETH) DeFi NFT Token and Identity Verification Altcoin to Roadmap, Spurring Minor Rallies appeared first on The Daily Hodl .

Breitman says FTX's collapse is having a big impact on regulation and deal-making for the crypto industry.

Founder and CEO Pavel Durov wants to steer crypto back towards trustless models.

At the height of the bear market, two NFT collectors have paid almost $1 million to purchase Bored Ape NFTs.

The veteran investor Mark Mobius has said bitcoin (BTC) could fall to the $10,000 level, but he is still amazed by how well bitcoin prices “have held up” in the currently bearish environment.... Read More: Mobius Capital Fund Manager Reveals His Downside Target for Bitcoin, but Says Digital Assets are Here to Stay

The wider crypto market jumped with stocks Wednesday after Jerome Powell hinted at less aggressive interest rate hikes to come.

With devoted support from Crypto Twitter, DOGE is one step closer towards revolutionizing the aged financial system. Continue reading Dogecoin (DOGE) Posts 35% Weekly Gains amid Musk Versus Apple Altercation at DailyCoin.com.