Mark Travoy

New Memecoin Bitcoin Cat (BTCAT) Surges 110% Ahead of Exchange Listing

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Bitcoin Cat (BTCAT) is being tipped as the next Shiba Inu (SHIB), with some investors expecting it to reach a $50 million market cap by the end of April.

Bitcoin Cat (BTCAT), a new Solana-based memecoin, has surged 110% in the last 24 hours, as excitement builds over the coin’s listing on MEXC on Saturday.

This will be BTCAT’s first centralized exchange listing, with it currently only trading on Raydium and Jupiter.

Despite its recent rally, Bitcoin Cat still only has a market cap of around $760,000, emphasizing how much potential this Solana coin has over the next few weeks and months.

Some investors are predicting its market cap to hit $50 million before the end of April, delivering around 7000% returns to investors who buy in at the current price of $0.000000004347 per token.

Others are looking even further ahead and expecting it to hit well over $500 million, amid rumors that Bitcoin Cat is already in talks to get listed on Binance.

Aside from the imminent MEXC listing, BitMart have also confirmed that Bitcoin Cat will be listed on their exchange.

The rise of Bitcoin Cat comes amid the broader Solana memecoin craze, with dozens of coins spawning allowing investors to turn a few thousand dollars into millions within weeks or even days.

This is undoubtedly much riskier than holding Bitcoin or Ethereum, but with the large cap cryptos trading sideways in recent days, more and more investors are switching to low-cap memecoins in search of eyewatering gains.

DogWifHood (WIFT) Begins Trading on MEXC – But Will it Flip DogWifHat (WIF)?

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DogWifHood (WIF) began trading on MEXC on 5 April, after previously only being available on a couple of decentralized exchanges.

DogWifHood (WIF) is aiming to eventually flip DogWifHat, as the new memecoin gains momentum and is poised to benefit from growing hype surrounding the TON Network.

On 5 April, DogWifHood became the only TON-based memecoin to be available to buy on a centralized exchange, as the WIFT/USDT pair began trading.

The token’s market cap currently stands around the $6 million mark, while DogWifHat boasts a market capitalization of around $3.36 billion, following its meteoric rally so far in 2024.

However, while there is currently a huge difference in market cap and token price between these two dog-themed memecoins, DogWifHood does stand a chance of potentially flipping DogWifHat’s market cap.

DogWifHood is expected to surge as a result of the Notcoin launch later this month, and additional CEX listings could see $WIFT post 500%-700% gains over the rest of April.

If this were to happen, DogWifHood’s market cap would still be under the $50 million mark and would have plenty more upside potential for the rest of Q2 and the remainder of 2024.

DogWifHat, meanwhile, is looking to grow further from its position as the third-largest memecoin by market cap, and eventually take on Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE).


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Spot Bitcoin ETFs Amass Over 500,000 BTC, Signaling Strong Institutional Interest

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Since their launch on January 11, nine out of ten new spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have collectively amassed over 500,000 BTC.

This figure represents 2.54% of the total bitcoins currently in circulation.

Farside Investors reports that, after a significant day of trading on Thursday, these funds experienced inflows of $287.7 million in Bitcoin.

Consequently, the value of the Bitcoin held by these nine ETFs surged to $35 billion over the span of 54 trading days.

Cumulatively, all U.S.-based spot Bitcoin funds, including those managed by Grayscale, now control 835,000 BTC.

This stash accounts for nearly 4% of all bitcoins available, underscoring the growing influence of institutional investments in the cryptocurrency sector.

The trend towards ETF inflows has seen a resurgence this week, with a recorded $845 million entering the market.

This reverses a previous pattern of outflows that began on March 18.

READ MORE: Grayscale Maintains Optimism for May Approval of Spot Ether ETFs Despite SEC Engagement Concerns

Notably, on March 28, these ETFs witnessed inflows totaling $183 million, led by BlackRock’s IBIT fund, which alone attracted $95 million.

Other significant contributions came from Fidelity and Bitwise, each with inflows of approximately $67 million, and Ark 21Shares, which secured $27.6 million following a substantial $200 million influx on the preceding Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC fund recorded an outflow of $105 million, marking its lowest level since March 12.

Since transitioning to a spot ETF in mid-January, Grayscale has reduced its GBTC fund by approximately 284,846 BTC.

In a related development, Bitwise has initiated the process for launching a spot Ethereum ETF by filing an S-1 application with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 28.

In response to this filing, ETF analyst Eric Balchunas expressed a cautious outlook, estimating the chances of approval for the ETH ETF in May at a pessimistic 25%.

He highlighted the lack of communication from the SEC as a concerning factor, noting that the silence could imply a lower likelihood of approval as the deadline approaches in seven weeks.


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Fake Token Mimicking Ethena Labs’s ENA Causes $290,000 Loss in Binance Exploit

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In a recent security breach on the Binance launch pool, an imposter token masquerading under the same name as Ethena Labs’s ENA token was exploited, leading to a significant loss.

The fake token was used to unlawfully extract 480 BNB tokens, valued at approximately $290,000. The exact vulnerability that allowed this exploit remains unknown.

The incident was first reported by PeckShield, an on-chain security firm, at 8:31 am UTC on March 29. The firm initially misidentified the counterfeit token as Ethena Labs’s genuine ENA token in a post on X.

This deceptive operation occurred just hours after Ethena Labs‘s ENA token was officially announced on the Binance Launchpool on the same day, causing confusion among investors and stakeholders.

This incident follows the successful launch of Ethena Labs’s USDe synthetic dollar on the public mainnet on February 19.

By March 8, Ethena had distinguished itself as the top-earning decentralized application (DApp) in the cryptocurrency sector, promising investors an annual percentage yield (APY) of 67%.

Although the exploit involving the counterfeit ENA token is relatively minor in comparison to other cryptocurrency thefts, it occurred closely following the Prisma Finance hack on March 28, which resulted in losses exceeding $11 million.

READ MORE: Grayscale Maintains Optimism for May Approval of Spot Ether ETFs Despite SEC Engagement Concerns

These events underscore the ongoing challenges and security vulnerabilities within the crypto industry, which have historically undermined investor confidence.

Throughout 2024, over $200 million in cryptocurrency assets have been compromised across 32 separate incidents up to February 29, as reported by blockchain security firm Immunefi.

This figure represents a 15.4% increase from the losses recorded in January and February 2023, which totaled $173 million.

The cryptocurrency sector experienced significant losses due to hacking activities in 2023, with a total of $1.8 billion stolen.

The North Korean Lazarus Group was responsible for approximately 17% of these losses.

The “2024 Crypto Crime Report” by Chainalysis highlighted that 2022 was a peak year for crypto theft, with over $3.7 billion in funds stolen, demonstrating a substantial decrease to $1.7 billion in 2023.

The report attributed the decline primarily to a reduction in decentralized finance (DeFi) hacking incidents, with the total value stolen from DeFi platforms dropping by 63.7% year-over-year.


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THORChain Hits Record $10 Billion Trading Volume Amid Bitcoin Maximalist Debate on Security and Loan Risks

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For the first time, THORChain, a decentralized liquidity protocol, has surpassed a significant milestone, recording over $10 billion in total monthly trading volume.

This achievement was highlighted in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, by THORChain’s official account, with Runscan data confirming a trading volume of $10.26 billion for the month.

Despite this success, Bitcoin maximalists are split on the platform’s security and the attractiveness of its offerings, particularly concerning interest-free loans against Bitcoin (BTC).

The discussion among Bitcoin enthusiasts unfolded on social media, following the announcement.

Fred Krueger, a mathematician and Bitcoin investor, expressed his support for THORChain on March 27, emphasizing his trust in the protocol’s BTC-backed loans as a secure option for Bitcoiners seeking liquidity.

Contrarily, Bitcoin analyst Dylan Le Clair criticized Krueger’s viewpoint, highlighting the inherent risks in taking out a loan that relies on the exchange rate of an altcoin, pointing out the unquantifiable risks involved in such transactions.

THORChain stands out for allowing seamless asset swaps across different blockchains and offering loans without interest or compulsory liquidations.

READ MORE: Surge in Investor Confidence: U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETFs Attract $418 Million in One Day, Led by Fidelity and BlackRock

A notable update on January 30 reduced the collateral necessary for borrowing against Bitcoin and Ether, effectively allowing users to borrow up to half the value of their assets.

Chris Blec, an analyst, acknowledged THORChain’s unique no-liquidation lending model as “interesting” on March 10 but raised concerns about potential pitfalls.

The first risk involves lending Bitcoin to a protocol susceptible to failure or security breaches, an issue THORChain faced in 2021, albeit with a resolution that saw funds returned.

The second risk pertains to the dependency on a centralized provider, which could alter terms, thus endangering loans.

In addition to the platform’s innovative approach to loans, THORChain experienced interruptions to its mainnet service twice in 2023 due to potential security flaws, underscoring the ongoing debates over its safety and reliability for Bitcoiners.


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Ethereum’s Ether Surges 3.5%, Eyes $4,000 Mark Amid Whales’ Accumulation and Strong Market Dominance

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Ethereum’s Ether (ETH) has witnessed a notable increase, climbing 3.5% to surpass $3,630 on March 31.

This rise marks an 18.75% improvement from its recent low near $3,050, observed just over a week ago.

The momentum behind Ether’s recent price uptick is multifaceted.

A significant aspect is its performance against both the U.S. dollar and Bitcoin (BTC).

The ETH/BTC pair, for instance, saw a 2.5% increase on the same day, reaching 0.051 BTC.

This suggests a potential short-term capital shift towards Ether.

Ether’s market dominance has also seen a boost, evidenced by a 2.16% rise in the Ethereum Dominance Index (ETH.D) in the last 48 hours from its March 29 low.

This trend indicates an inflow of investment from other altcoins into Ether, strengthening its dollar valuation.

A key factor in this surge is the behavior of Ether’s largest holders, or “whales,” who have been accumulating more ETH.

Glassnode data shows that entities with 1,000 to 10,000 ETH have increased their holdings by 1.15% in March. Such accumulation patterns have historically preceded significant price rallies.

Furthermore, Ether’s funding rates in the perpetual contracts market have escalated, with the funding rate for Dogecoin perpetual futures reaching 0.0591% per eight hours as of March 31.

READ MORE: Bitcoin Withdrawals Soar as US Spot ETFs Spark Historic Supply Squeeze

This indicates a higher cost for maintaining long positions and suggests an anticipation of further price increases.

Ether’s open interest in derivative contracts has leveled at around $14 billion, following a recent peak.

This stabilization, coupled with rising funding rates, suggests an eagerness among traders to leverage their positions, anticipating further price growth.

Ether’s current trajectory also reflects technical analysis patterns.

After testing its lower trendline in what seems to be a rising wedge pattern, Ether found support at the $3,485 level, corresponding to its 0.236 Fibonacci retracement.

Rising wedges typically indicate a potential price drop; however, if Ether breaks above the pattern’s upper trendline, it could ascend towards $4,000 by the end of April, challenging the 0.0 Fibonacci level.

Conversely, adherence to the rising wedge pattern could see ETH’s price target adjusting to around $3,280.


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$24 Million in Staked Solana Locked on Lido Platform Due to Smart Contract Flaw

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In a significant mishap on the Lido liquid-staking platform, approximately $24 million in tokenized staked Solana (stSOL) has been inadvertently trapped due to a glitch in the smart contract.

This incident affects the Lido on Solana service, which had previously offered users a 5% yield on staked Solana before being phased out in October 2023 amidst financial viability concerns and minimal fees.

Following the discontinuation of a user-friendly unstaking option in February, customers were left to navigate the complexities of the Solana command line interface (CLI) for unstaking their tokens.

This technical hurdle proved daunting for many, as reflected in the concerns voiced on Lido’s Discord channel in March.

Solscan data indicates that there remains a substantial $24 million in stSOL spread across 31,588 holders.

Discord users expressed frustration over the unwieldy process, highlighting errors encountered despite adhering to Lido-provided guidelines.

For instance, ericxtang lamented on March 15 that neither of the two solutions on the Lido site facilitated stSOL unstaking.

Similarly, “Number9guy” recounted an unsuccessful attempt to convert stSOL back to SOL, with the tokens remaining immobilized with a validator.

READ MORE: Bitcoin Surges Past $71,000 Amid Legal Turmoil, Whales Shift as Bullish Sentiment Prevails

Clarification came from Pavel Pavlov, a product manager at P2P Validator, formerly associated with Lido on Solana, revealing on March 30 that the withdrawal issue stemmed from a smart contract malfunction, specifically tied to the Rent-Exempt Split logic’s modification.

Despite recognizing the problem, Pavlov disclosed P2P’s inability to directly rectify the situation, prompting outreach to the Lido DAO for potential smart contract adjustments.

Subsequent updates from Pavlov indicated progress, with the deployment of an updated maintainer bot facilitating CLI withdrawals, accompanied by a guide for users.

Despite the challenges in altering the smart contract, efforts to identify alternative solutions continue, without a definitive timeline for resolution.

Pavlov empathized with affected users, assuring them of the team’s dedication to finding a resolution.

Some community members have proposed utilizing the on-chain stability protocol Sanctum or Jupiter, which integrates Sanctum, for converting stSOL into SOL or alternative liquid staking tokens. As of now, Lido Finance has not commented on the situation.


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Tether Completes Elite Security Audit, Sets Sights on Expanding Cryptocurrency Dominance

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Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, has recently achieved a significant milestone by completing a System and Organization Controls 2 (SOC) audit, marking a pinnacle of security compliance as outlined by the American Institute of Certified Accountants (AICPA).

This accomplishment reflects Tether’s dedication to maintaining a secure and reliable platform for its users.

Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, emphasized the importance of this achievement in a statement released on April 1, saying, “This compliance measure assures our customers that their assets and data are managed in an environment meeting the highest standards for data protection and information security.

“This independent validation of security controls is vital for Tether, demonstrating our commitment to being the world’s most trusted and compliant stablecoin.”

In addition to this achievement, Tether has committed to annual SOC 2 audits to continuously verify that its security practices meet rigorous standards.

The company also plans to secure the SOC 2 Type II certification by the end of 2025, a testament to its long-term dedication to internal control efficacy over a 12-month evaluation period.

Tether’s stablecoin, USDT, has witnessed remarkable growth, achieving a $100 billion market cap on March 4 and ranking as the third-largest cryptocurrency, trailing only behind Ether and Bitcoin.

This growth underscores Tether’s significant impact on the crypto market, further highlighted by its plans to expand beyond stablecoins into Bitcoin mining.

READ MORE: Bitcoin Surges to $70,000, Eyes Record Highs Amid Positive Economic Remarks from Fed Chair Powell

The firm has outlined an ambitious $500 million investment strategy to establish Bitcoin mining operations in Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador.

In a Bloomberg interview on Nov. 16, 2023, Ardoino shared Tether’s goal to command 1% of the Bitcoin mining network, alongside detailing plans for expanding its mining capacity to 450 megawatts (MW) by 2025.

This expansion includes considerations for a 300 MW facility and innovative strategies for operational flexibility, such as relocatable containerized facilities to adapt to fluctuating electricity prices.

Ardoino’s cautious yet optimistic approach to mining expansion reflects Tether’s broader strategy of careful growth, stating, “Mining for us is something that we have to learn and grow over time.

“We are not in a rush to become the biggest miner in the world.”


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DogWifHood (WIF) Rallies 20% in 2 Hours as MEXC Listing Announced, Shiba Inu (SHIB) Gains 2.5%

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DogWifHood is a newly launched memecoin on the TON Network, and its market cap is currently around $8.5 million.

DogWifHood (WIF) jumped 20% in the space of two hours today following an announcement that the memecoin would be listed on MEXC – its first centralized exchange (DEX) listing.

DogWifHood, which is a memecoin on the TON Network, currently trades on a couple of decentralized exchanges (DEX), such as Ston.Fi.

It was announced on Thursday that the token will soon be available to buy on MEXC, opening up a new source of demand for this early stage and potentially ultra-lucrative token.

“MEXC is thrilled to launch another session of Kickstarter, a listing campaign initiated by the project team on MEXC before launch where users can commit MX Token to support their favourite project,” the exchange said in an announcement.

“This event is designed to identify high-quality projects and at the same time, bring airdrop benefits to MEXC users,” they added.

This caused the price of DogWifHood (WIF) to almost immediately surge from around $0.00727 to $0.00850, and the bulls continue to hold the advantage.

MEXC also noted that the DogWifHood ticker on their exchange will be renamed WIFT, due to DogWifHat already using the WIF ticker.

DogWifHood (WIF) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) Price Prediction

Shiba Inu has gained around 2.7% in the last 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap data, currently trading at $0.00002737.

SHIB is down almost 15% over the last 7 days, but the popular memecoin is set for another rally once sentiment in the broader crypto market improves.

The SHIB price is expected to breach the $0.00003 barrier before the end of April.

DogWifHood (WIF), meanwhile, has potential for explosive price growth as it has a market cap of under $10 million and could quite easily surge to $200-$500 million, as more CEX listings are announced.

This would provide investors who enter at the current price with a 25x to 60x return on investment – something that larger memecoins cannot offer due to their market caps already being in the billions of dollars.


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Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Proposes Penalty Scheme to Enhance Decentralization

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Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has introduced an innovative approach aimed at enhancing the platform’s decentralization by implementing penalties for simultaneous failures among validators.

This proposal, shared on the Ethereum Research forum on March 27, aims to create incentives for decentralized staking by introducing “more anti-correlation incentives.”

Buterin’s proposal focuses on imposing harsher penalties on validators that are under the control of a single entity and fail simultaneously, compared to individual failures.

“The theory is that if you are a single large actor, any mistakes that you make would be more likely to be replicated across all ‘identities’ that you control,” Buterin explained, highlighting the risk of correlated failures especially within staking pools due to common infrastructure.

The core of Buterin’s suggestion is to penalize validators based on how their failure rates deviate from the norm.

In scenarios where a significant number of validators fail at the same time, each validator’s penalty would increase, aiming to discourage large stakers from causing widespread disruptions due to correlated failures.

This approach, supported by simulations, could potentially level the playing field between large and small Ethereum stakers.

Buterin’s proposal extends beyond just penalties.

READ MORE: Bitcoin Surges Past $71,000, Signaling Bullish Momentum and Potential for Record HighsC

It advocates for measures that encourage the use of separate infrastructures for each validator and promote the economic viability of solo staking in comparison to joining staking pools.

Additionally, Buterin has floated the idea of exploring alternative penalty schemes and the impact of these measures on both geographic and client decentralization within the Ethereum network.

The discussion around staking decentralization also touches upon the dominance of staking pools and liquid staking services, such as Lido, which currently holds a significant portion of the total ETH supply staked.

This dominance raises concerns about potential centralization and the disproportionate advantages that large pools could have over individual stakers.

Despite the suggestions, Buterin did not address the possibility of lowering the solo staking threshold of 32 Ether, which is a significant financial commitment for individual participants.

This proposal comes amid ongoing discussions within the Ethereum community about the risks of centralization and the need for mechanisms that ensure a more equitable and decentralized network, especially in light of the significant amounts of ETH managed by services like Lido and the potential for “cartelization.”


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