Bitcoin is on the cusp of entering a critical phase known as the “danger zone” just days before its next halving, an event that could see its value dip, as historically observed.
This period, highlighted by crypto analyst Rekt Capital in a recent X post, has in the past witnessed significant price retractions.
“In 2 days, Bitcoin will officially enter the ‘Danger Zone’ […] where historical pre-halving retraces have begun,” stated Rekt Capital.
“Historical data supports this claim, with Bitcoin experiencing a 40% fall in 2016 and a 20% drop in 2020 during the 14 to 28 days leading up to its halving events.
“Earlier in January, Rekt Capital had foreseen a rally and subsequent retrace surrounding the halving.
This prediction held true as Bitcoin outperformed expectations, surpassing its previous all-time high of $68,990 in March, ahead of a halving for the first time.
With the next halving anticipated on April 20, as per CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin’s value has slightly retreated from its March 14 peak, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro.
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Amidst these fluctuations, Binance CEO Richard Teng remains optimistic.
Speaking at a Bangkok event, Teng projected Bitcoin could exceed $80,000 by year-end, fueled by institutional investments and the impact of new U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which currently manage $57 billion.
Teng emphasized the growth potential despite expected price volatility.
Echoing a sentiment of resilience, Crypto.com’s CEO Kris Marszalek viewed the recent price correction as beneficial, suggesting it curbed excess leverage.
He observed a momentum in Bitcoin’s trajectory similar to its late 2020 rally and anticipates a more gradual price increase.
Marszalek highlighted Bitcoin’s long-term value, suggesting it’s an asset meant for decades, not merely short-term speculation.
This outlook reflects a broader confidence in Bitcoin’s enduring appeal and its ability to navigate through its cyclical challenges, including the impending “danger zone.”
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Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States experienced a significant decrease in net inflows, with only $132 million recorded on March 14.
This represented the lowest level of net inflows in the last eight trading sessions and a drastic 80% reduction from the $684 million recorded on March 13.
The decline on March 14 followed another decrease from the previous day, contrasting sharply with the record single-day inflows of $1.05 billion seen on March 12.
Despite the notable drop, the total inflow into Bitcoin ETFs was $390 million on March 14, factoring in a substantial $257 million in outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), leading to the net inflow figure of $132 million.
The VanEck Bitcoin Trust ETF and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund also saw inflows, albeit modest, at $13.8 million and $13.7 million, respectively.
Despite GBTC’s significant outflows, the overall ETF market managed to maintain positive net flows on that day.
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Leading the inflows, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF attracted $345 million. Cumulatively, the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market has seen impressive inflows, nearing the $12 billion mark after just 44 days of trading activity.
This trend of declining ETF inflows is occurring alongside a downturn in the broader crypto market, highlighted by a drop in BTC prices below $69,000.
The falling ETF inflows were mirrored by BTC price movements, which saw a new all-time high of over $73,000 on March 13 before falling to around $66,000 on March 15.
This price dip resulted in significant liquidations, with CoinGlass reporting that 193,431 traders were liquidated, totaling $682.14 million in the previous 24 hours.
Market analysts suggest that the current volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and macroeconomic considerations are prompting investor caution.
The ongoing decline in ETF inflows and BTC prices is also being watched closely in relation to the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which is expected to provide insights into the Federal Reserve’s future interest rate decisions.
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The BNB cryptocurrency witnessed a remarkable surge, increasing by 62% within 30 days, reaching a two-year peak at $489.50 on March 8.
This significant rise not only highlights BNB’s growth amid broader market gains but also cements its position as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, stablecoins excluded.
This surge sparked discussions among traders, with many speculating that surpassing the $500 mark is just a matter of time.
However, questions about the sustainability of this rally remain.
Investor sentiment towards BNB was not always optimistic, especially after Binance’s founder, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, agreed to a plea deal with the U.S. federal court in November 2023 over allegations involving the transfer of illicit funds through the exchange.
CZ’s decision to step down as CEO raised concerns about BNB’s future, given its close ties with the Binance ecosystem.
Despite these challenges, the settlement between Binance and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in December 2023, which called for enhanced corporate governance at Binance, has mitigated some of the uncertainties surrounding BNB.
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This development, coupled with CZ’s ongoing trial, leaves the crypto community watching closely.
The recent increase in cryptocurrency trading volumes has brought issues to light for several major exchanges, with Coinbase experiencing multiple outages.
These incidents have drawn criticism, notably from crypto investor @Rampage_Calls and Vijay Boyapati, who compared Coinbase’s liquidity issues to the downfall of MtGox. Boyapati’s call to action for Coinbase to address these problems underlines the importance of reliable exchange infrastructure—a factor contributing to Binance’s trading volume leadership.
Binance’s robust trading system has undoubtedly played a role in attracting users, further boosted by incentives like reduced trading fees.
Yet, the value of BNB extends beyond these aspects, with the BNB Chain’s ecosystem being a crucial element for consideration.
Despite a 7% decrease in smart contract deposits on the BNB Chain, the network’s DApp volume increased by 41% in the last month, demonstrating significant engagement and activity.
With 5.6 million active addresses interacting with its DApps, the BNB Chain exhibits strong user involvement.
This vibrant ecosystem, along with the ongoing analysis of BNB Chain’s utility and its impact on Binance post-CZ’s trial, presents a bullish outlook for BNB, hinting at the possibility of reaching and possibly exceeding the $500 threshold.
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In 2023, the United States experienced a significant rise in cryptocurrency-related investment fraud, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) highlighting it as the major source of investment fraud losses.
According to the FBI, the nation saw a staggering 53% increase in crypto investment fraud, with losses surging from $2.57 billion in 2022 to approximately $3.94 billion in 2023.
This figure constituted about 86% of the total $4.57 billion lost to investment fraud across the board.
The FBI report draws attention to the growing trend of victims being lured into cryptocurrency scams, promising them high returns on their investments.
“These scams are designed to entice those targeted with the promise of lucrative returns on their investments,” the FBI noted.
Among these, romance scams have emerged as a prevalent method, wherein criminals create fake online personas to build relationships and trust with their victims.
They then concoct compelling stories to convince the victim to transfer cryptocurrency, only to vanish subsequently.
The analysis firm Chainalysis, in December 2023, identified romance scams as the cause for at least $374 million in suspected stolen cryptocurrency during the year.
Additionally, Cointelegraph reported on January 1 that phishing scams had ensnared over 324,000 cryptocurrency users, leading to approximately $295 million in digital assets being lost to wallet drainers in 2023 alone.
The issue of cryptocurrency scam victims is not confined to the United States; it is a global concern.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reported in April 2023 that Australians had lost AU$221.3 million ($146.9 million) to investment scams involving cryptocurrency in 2022.
This marked a 162.4% increase from the previous year, indicating the expanding reach and impact of these scams worldwide.
The significant rise in crypto-related fraud underscores the urgent need for increased awareness and more robust protective measures for investors globally.
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The Arbitrum DAO is currently holding a vote on a proposal to allocate significant funds for the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers, Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev.
This move, initiated by a delegate known as DK on March 7, could see the community donating up to 600,000 ARB tokens, valued around $1.3 million, in its first year to support what is described as a “robust legal defense.”
This fund also aims to cover public relations and advocacy to enhance understanding and support for privacy technologies, as well as the legal challenges developers face in the sector.
The delegate stated, “By rallying support for their legal fund, we aim to safeguard not only the future of privacy-preserving technologies but also the broader principles of innovation, decentralization, and individual sovereignty within our industry.”
The DAO has introduced a three-tiered voting system for this proposal, with funding options ranging from 200,000 to 600,000 ARB tokens.
At this point, over 80% of votes favor the highest funding tier, with voting scheduled to close on March 14.
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Tornado Cash has been embroiled in controversy, accused of facilitating the laundering of over $1 billion in illicit funds, including those linked to North Korean hackers, leading to significant legal and operational challenges, including being placed on U.S. sanctions lists.
This has spurred a debate within the crypto community about the nature of decentralization and the role of developers in potentially facilitating illegal activities.
Advocates for Tornado Cash, however, argue that the platform simply provides decentralized financial services and should not be classified as a money transmitter, drawing on FinCEN guidelines that suggest anonymizing software providers are not money transmitters.
Nonetheless, Storm and Pertsev face severe legal charges in the U.S., including conspiracy to commit money laundering and sanctions violations, with potential prison sentences of up to 20 years for some charges.
This legal support initiative follows the cancellation of a GoFundMe campaign intended to raise legal funds for the developers, which was halted due to terms of service violations, highlighting the complexities and controversies surrounding the use of privacy-preserving technologies within the blockchain and cryptocurrency domains.
Lava, a novel decentralized lending market platform, made its debut on March 7, introducing a solution aimed at revolutionizing the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape.
The platform promises to address the challenge of impermanent loss, a significant obstacle for liquidity providers on decentralized exchanges.
By leveraging its infrastructure, Lava intends to enhance automated market makers (AMMs) liquidity positions, thereby mitigating impermanent loss and boosting liquidity efficiency across diverse blockchain networks.
The issue of impermanent loss has been a persistent concern within the DeFi sector, deterring institutional investors and hindering market efficiency.
John Lo, managing partner of digital assets at Recharge Capital, underscored the significance of this problem, stating, “This is not only a major pain point for users, but also an issue that has caused a regression toward traditional architecture and one that prevents efficient markets on-chain.”
Impermanent loss occurs when the value of a token fluctuates after being deposited into an AMM as part of yield farming, a process different from staking, aimed at earning rewards through token lending.
Lava’s innovative approach is set to open up new possibilities for DeFi by promoting a more democratic form of market making that competes with centralized counterparts.
According to Lo, “Alternative market makers already provide various benefits over traditional architecture, and Lava completes, if not unifies these benefits.”
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The platform’s backing by Recharge Capital signifies a strong endorsement, positioning Lava to enhance liquidity depth in the crypto market and encourage broader participation from liquidity providers.
A distinctive feature of Lava is its focus on combating impermanent loss through a unique mechanism that allows for arbitrage between market maker rates via the collateralization and lending of liquidity positions.
This enables users to navigate between DeFi and centralized finance protocols effortlessly, optimizing yield for passive liquidity providers and contributing to a more efficient market rate determination.
Lava operates on a multichain basis, with initial availability on the Arbitrum and Base blockchains, signaling its commitment to expanding its reach across additional blockchain networks in the future.
This strategic approach underscores Lava’s ambition to pioneer solutions for impermanent loss and foster a more inclusive and efficient DeFi ecosystem.
The Greek stock exchange is exploring the integration of a pioneering tool, the electronic book building (EBB), into the Sui blockchain ecosystem.
This announcement was made public through a blog post by Sui on March 6, revealing a collaborative effort between the Athens Exchange Group (ATHEX) and Mysten Labs, the creators behind Sui.
The proposed EBB by ATHEX represents a significant advancement in fundraising methods, facilitating the listing of transferable securities for both emerging and established companies.
These securities would be hosted on Sui, transformed into digital certificates, thus ensuring robust security, transferability, and a clear custody chain.
The initiative is hailed as a breakthrough, marrying blockchain technology with stock market operations, a union that is deemed a “natural fit” by the developers.
According to the blog, the EBB system will act as a blockchain-based enhancement layer atop ATHEX’s existing trading order routing framework.
This integration aims to inject liquidity into company fundraising efforts by leveraging blockchain’s capabilities.
However, the project’s progression is contingent on successful evaluations and ATHEX’s final decision to adopt blockchain for its new tool.
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The Sui Network, a layer-1 blockchain platform, launched its mainnet in May 2023, focusing on digital asset ownership.
Since its inception, Sui has established itself as a robust ecosystem capable of managing high-volume transactions with minimal fees, evident from the adoption of a novel zkLogin feature.
This innovation simplifies Web3 logins across Sui applications, supporting Google, Facebook, and Twitch credentials for user access.
In a move to bolster blockchain education, the Sui Foundation partnered with the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to establish a Blockchain Academy in February 2024.
This initiative aims to heighten student engagement with blockchain technology, enhancing their ability to develop relevant applications and platforms.
Greg Siourounis, the managing director of the Sui Foundation, emphasized the importance of educating the masses on blockchain’s potential and equipping them with necessary tools in an interview with Cointelegraph.
Travala.com, a cryptocurrency-friendly travel agency, is launching a unique Bitcoin cashback program aimed at rewarding its most loyal customers.
This initiative is designed to capitalize on Bitcoin’s (BTC) scarcity, offering an innovative reward for the platform’s Smart Diamond tier members.
This tier is part of the loyalty program operated by the AVA Foundation’s blockchain platform, with the program details shared in an exclusive announcement to Cointelegraph.
Juan Otero, the CEO of Travala.com, emphasized Bitcoin’s enduring presence and its increasing appeal to a broader audience, especially following the approval of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
He stated, “Bitcoin is here to stay, and it’s now becoming more appealing to mainstream audiences, thanks to the recent approval of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.”
According to Otero, the Bitcoin cashback rewards not only enhance the attractiveness of using cryptocurrencies for everyday transactions but also ensure that rewards are credited swiftly, within 24 hours after completing a trip.
Travala.com users, especially those eligible for the rewards, enjoy complete freedom in how they utilize their Bitcoin cashback.
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This includes paying for various travel services on the platform or transferring their BTC to external wallets, exchanges, or platforms.
Notably, Bitcoin ranks as one of the top three payment methods on Travala.com, with around 9% of the platform’s travel bookings paid in BTC, totaling over $5 million in transactions for flights, hotels, and activities in 2023 alone.
However, the program is exclusive, requiring users to own a Travel Tiger NFT and stake 2,500 AVA tokens for Smart Diamond membership.
With only 1,000 Travel Tiger NFTs available, minted on the Ethereum blockchain and priced at a floor of 2.6 Ether (approximately $9,800), the program offers a limited opportunity for travelers to earn rewards.
Travala advocates for the potential of cryptocurrency-based cashback programs to disrupt traditional Web2-based models.
By leveraging Bitcoin, the platform aims to reduce fees associated with conventional payment methods and mitigate the risk of chargeback fraud.
Otero also sees the Bitcoin rewards initiative as a gateway for introducing newcomers to the Web3 ecosystem, highlighting the AVA Foundation’s role in providing cashback and loyalty rewards, payment discounts, and exclusive access through its native AVA token.
Tencent Cloud, the cloud computing branch of the Chinese conglomerate Tencent, has recently entered into a strategic partnership with the United Arab Emirates’ Ras Al Khaimah Digital Asset Oasis (RAK DAO), a crypto-centric free economic zone.
This collaboration, formalized through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on March 7, aims to foster startup growth within the region through a series of joint initiatives.
The RAK DAO, a special zone in Ras Al Khaimah dedicated to cryptocurrency enterprises and located within one of the UAE’s seven emirates, is set to benefit significantly from this agreement.
The MoU’s initial focus is on supporting startups registered with RAK DAO by leveraging mutual growth opportunities.
As part of this endeavor, a Tencent Cloud training center will be established within the RAK DAO premises to enhance skill development and provide education related to cloud services and digital economy skills.
Moreover, the agreement includes offering internship opportunities for companies and partners licensed with RAK DAO within the Tencent Cloud ecosystem.
Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, hailed the signing of the MoU as a landmark achievement for the emirate, highlighting the partnership’s potential to strengthen Ras Al Khaimah’s status as a leading technology hub.
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On the other side, Dowson Tong, CEO of Tencent Cloud, emphasized the collaboration’s aim to redefine excellence in the Web3 sector and to create new avenues in the digital economy.
Free-trade zones in the UAE, such as RAK DAO, allow entrepreneurs full ownership of their businesses, operating under unique regulatory and tax frameworks distinct from the mainland laws, barring criminal law.
RAK DAO was inaugurated in 2023 as a dedicated space for virtual asset companies, focusing on Web3 technologies such as the metaverse, blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized applications (dApps), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
This partnership reflects the UAE free-trade zone’s broader strategy to integrate with the global crypto ecosystem.
In July 2023, RAK DAO further expanded its network by signing an MoU with the HBAR Foundation, aimed at supporting its community members through the adoption of the Hedera blockchain.
The cryptocurrency community was shaken by news of a significant financial loss following a rug pull involving Lena Network’s newly launched Candy (CANDY) token, which saw its value plummet by over 87%.
This drastic drop resulted from the unauthorized transfer of 753 Ether (ETH), equivalent to $2.9 million, to an exchange, marking a stark downfall for the token from its daily high.
Data from Dexscreener revealed that the value of the Candy token nosedived to $0.38, a steep decline from its earlier daily peak of $3.08.
This downturn was triggered when on-chain evidence exposed that the Lena Network deployer’s address had moved 753.11 ETH to an address connected to the OKX exchange on March 6.
This event unfolded mere hours before Lena Network’s declaration of officially relinquishing the token contract’s ownership, leaving the protocol’s response to the incident pending at the time of reporting.
Lena Network had successfully gathered over 850 ETH ($3.2 million) through its initial farm offering for the Candy token, which concluded on March 3.
Despite the promising start, the token’s launch on March 6 was quickly overshadowed by its sharp decrease in value.
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The incident with Lena Network and Candy token is part of a broader issue plaguing the cryptocurrency sector, characterized by an alarming frequency of rug pulls and hacks.
A report by blockchain security firm Immunefi highlighted that the crypto community has already faced a loss exceeding $200 million due to such malicious activities in 2024 alone, across 32 distinct events.
This figure marks a 15.4% increase from the losses recorded in the first two months of 2023.
Despite a nearly 50% reduction in losses in February compared to January, the persistent threat of cyber theft looms large, with over $1.8 billion lost to crypto hacks and scams in 2023, including significant contributions from the notorious Lazarus Group.