Connect with us

Uncategorized

WBTC Episode ‘Reopened Old Wounds’ of Centralized Failures: Bitcoin Builders Association

Published

on

Earlier this year, some users of wrapped bitcoin wBTC were dismayed to find its issuer BitGo was sharing custody of their bitcoin (BTC) with BiT Global, a Hong Kong-based crypto custodian partly owned by TRON founder Justin Sun.

The episode «reopened old wounds inflicted by previous centralized custody failure,» even though it did not expose any novel flaws, the Bitcoin Builders Association (BBA) said in a report on Wednesday.

«These wounds cause BTC holders to be unwilling to trade off their self-custody for trusted solutions,» the report said.

The BBA noted that there’s been signs of growing distrust toward centralized entities. WBTC’s supply has dwindled to 0.74% of the total bitcoin circulating supply from 1.5% over two years ago.

The collapse of numerous crypto entities in 2022 highlighted the risks of ceding custody of one’s coins to centralized custodians, a lesson that many users are not willing to learn the hard way again.

WBTC Dominance

WBTC is an Ethereum-based token tradable 1:1 for BTC, allowing users to put their assets to work in the decentralized finance (DeFi) world which is largely unavailable in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The token is comfortably the market leader in the tokenized BTC sector, accounting for a 60.4% share, according to the BBA. When added together with distant runner up BTCB (built on BNB), the two tokens have a market share of 87.2%.

However, this consolidation could be in the process of being broken up given the uptick in new tokens emerging of late. Of the 21 different participants in this sector, 40% have launched in 2024 or will do so in the near future, the BBA said.

The BBA listed each of these participants in the report and addressed some of the pros and cons of a select few. For example, wBTC is the most liquid token, is integrated across all the largest blockchains and has been stress-tested for over five years. However, the venture with BiT Global is a concern for many given the counterparty risk it introduces, «especially considering the involvement of Justin Sun, known for controversial practices in the crypto space,» according to the report.

On other hand, a token like Bitcoin layer-2 Stacks’ sBTC has yet to be stress tested (having gone live only this week) and its novel programming language Clarity can make DeFi integration more tricky. On the plus side, it is more decentralized than wBTC and inherits the protection of the Bitcoin network’s security.

The tokenized BTC market represents a mere 1.23% of the total bitcoin market cap, equal to around $25 billion at the time of writing.

«This highlights the immense untapped potential for solutions offering a programmable version of BTC,» the BBA said.

Read More: Bitcoin Project BOB Maps Out How the Original Blockchain Could Take Over DeFi

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Ваш адрес email не будет опубликован. Обязательные поля помечены *

Uncategorized

WazirX to Get Day in Court Next Month, With Payouts After 10 Days If Recovery Plan is Approved

Published

on

By

WazirX, the crypto exchange hit hard by a $234.9 million hack last year, says it’s gearing up to restart operations and begin creditor payments after a key Singapore court hearing on May 13.

The exchange’s Singapore-based parent company, Zettai, has wrapped up all prep work for the hearing, where the court will decide on approving WazirX’s restructuring and user compensation plan.

“While we’ve worked to stay aligned with the previously shared timelines, court proceedings operate independently, and we respect that process. After the Scheme is sanctioned, the First Distribution and restart will follow within 10 business days from the Effective Scheme Date, as outlined earlier,” WazirX said in an X post.

A North Korean attack on WazirX last year wiped out nearly 45% of user assets from a Safe Multisig wallet, forcing the platform to halt withdrawals and file a restructuring plan to partly return assets.

Earlier this month, 93.1% of creditors — holding 94.6% of the $196 million in approved claims — backed the restructuring plan in a vote. The plan involves issuing tradable Recovery Tokens with periodic buybacks and launching a decentralized exchange.

WazirX’s WRX tokens are little-changed in the past 24 hours.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Bitcoin Pops Above $88K Amid Yen Strength; ETH, ADA, XRP See Declines

Published

on

By

Bitcoin (BTC) held steady above $88,000 early Tuesday as the Japanese yen crossed the psychological level of 140 against the U.S. dollar, as tariff concerns and risks of a Federal Reserve chairman shuffle in the states broadened the appeal of safe-haven assets.

Yen rose nearly 1% to 139.93 against the dollar, its strongest level since September. Gold surged to fresh highs at $3,494 per ounce in Asian morning hours.

Per reports, Trump is blaming the Fed for the economic fallout from the trade war if the central bank doesn’t cut rates soon — and firing the chief usurps the appearance of independence the Federal Reserve currently enjoys.

BTC added just over 1% to continue a steady rise since Sunday. Ether (ETH), Cardano’s ADA, XRP, and Solana’s SOL showed signs of profit-taking with declines of as much as 3%, CoinGecko data shows.

Kaspa’s KAS and Polygon’s POL rose as much as 9% to lead gains among mid-caps, albeit on no immediate catalysts.

Traders pointed out that gains in bitcoin amid global ongoings were cementing its place as a possible risk-off asset.

«Today’s rise is further evidence of bitcoin’s growing role as a risk-off asset,” Gerry O’Shea, Head of Global Market Insights at Hashdex, told CoinDesk in an email. “In the last five years, bitcoin has had double-digit returns in the months following major geopolitical and macro events such as the COVID pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the U.S. banking crisis in 2023.”

“Gold is now trading at its nominal all-time high, which could foreshadow strong performance from bitcoin if investors’ appetite for risk-off assets increases — while global liquidity is increasing and the US regulatory environment is rapidly improving,” O’Shea added.

Surging gold prices and bitcoin’s (BTC) relatively strong price action amid a global market sell-off have some traders revisiting the latter’s role as “digital gold” — a big narrative in bitcoin’s early years but one that has lost steam in recent times.

What analysts are saying

Meanwhile, chart watchers say bitcoin crossed a key technical indicator this week that puts it in place for a higher move in the coming days.

“Bitcoin jumped to 87,500 on Monday, testing the late March highs,” Alex Kuptsikevich, the FxPro chief market analyst, told CoinDesk. “The leading cryptocurrency managed to bounce off the 50-day moving average, around which it had been hovering for the past week and a half.”

“A solid close above the $88,000 area would signal a break in the downtrend and a return to levels above the 200-day moving average. A confident move higher from current levels would be a key signal for the entire market, once again positioning BTC as the flagship set to lead the way,” Kuptsikevich added.

Moving averages in financial markets are tools used to smooth out price data over time, showing the average price of an asset (like a stock) over a specific period. The 50-day and 200-day moving averages are commonly used because they represent medium- and long-term trends, respectively.

These periods are widely followed, making them self-fulfilling as many traders act on them, reinforcing their importance.

Here’s what a machine’s read of the market is, powered by CoinDesk’s AI-driven market insights bot.

ADA Price Analysis

  • ADA broke key resistance at $0.630 amid broader crypto market recovery.
  • Grayscale’s spot ADA ETF filing sees approval odds jump to 61%, potentially opening doors for institutional investment.
  • Clear bullish reversal starting April 21, with volume significantly increasing to over 68 million during the breakout candle.
  • Fibonacci retracement levels suggest potential continuation toward $0.650.

XRP Price Analysis

  • XRP established a clear uptrend with a 3.4% overall range ($2.039-$2.143) over the analyzed period.
  • Strong support identified at $2.06, with buyers consistently stepping in at this level.
  • Significant breakout occurred on April 21, when XRP surged 4.3% in just two hours, breaking through previous resistance at $2.09.
  • Volume analysis confirms genuine buying interest, with trading activity spiking to over 100M during breakout periods.

ETH Price Analysis

  • Ethereum enters historical «buy zone» according to analyst Ali Martinez, with ETH trading below the lower MVRV Price Band—a metric that has previously signaled strong buying opportunities.
  • ETH currently trades in tight consolidation between $1,550-$1,630, with critical support at $1,500 and resistance at $1,700, as investors await a decisive breakout amid global economic pressures.
  • Clear support level established at $1,570 with resistance at $1,650, with trading volume spiking to 490,365 during the recent selloff.
  • The 48-hour price range of $1,544-$1,593 (3.1%) suggests continued market instability.
  • Fibonacci retracement levels indicate potential consolidation between $1,565-$1,590 before establishing a definitive trend direction.
Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Bitcoin, Euro Options Signal Bullishness Against Dollar Amid Equity and Bond Market Downturn

Published

on

By

In a surprising development, options linked to bitcoin (BTC) and the euro-dollar (EUR/USD) exchange rate are indicating strength against the U.S. dollar despite a downturn in the U.S. stock market. This trend suggests the «sell America» trade is gathering pace.

Currently, bitcoin’s short- and near-dated risk reversals – which measure the demand for call options relative to put options – were slightly positive, indicating a bullish bias. The data, drawn from sources like Deribit and Amberdata, signals a recovery from the previous trend where there was a consistent preference for puts in near-dated options.

In parallel, the one-month EUR/USD risk reversal has also flipped to positive, demonstrating a favorable outlook for EUR call options, according to data tracked by Jens Nordvig, founder and CEO of Exante Data Inc.

A call option gives the buyer asymmetric upside exposure to the underlying asset, while a put option protects against price declines. Consequently, a call buyer is implicitly bullish, whereas a put buyer is bearish, seeking to hedge or profit from anticipated price drops.

The preference for BTC and EUR call options over the dollar indicates expectations for continued capital rotation away from U.S. assets, which have recently fallen out of favor with investors, and into bitcoin, the euro, and other assets such as gold. .

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted over 700 points, bringing its month-to-date decline to more than 9%. In tandem, the dollar index—reflecting the greenback’s performance against major fiat currencies, including the euro—fell to a three-year low of 98, down 10% over the past three months. Additionally, prices for longer-duration Treasury notes have dropped, resulting in the 30-year yield rising by over five basis points to 4.90%.

The concurrent sell-off in U.S. assets aligns with increasing policy uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump’s trade war and his reported intentions to dismiss Fed Chair Jerome Powell and calls for a rethink of trading strategies.

«We are in a STRATEGIC asset allocation shift that is causing all kind of correlations to flip in a historical way. It is a time for many investors to take a step back, and think fresh,» Nordvig said on X.

On Monday, BTC rose past $88,000, with the EUR/USD climbing to 1.1575, the highest since November 2021. Gold topped the $3,400 per ounce price mark for the first time and rose to a new lifetime high of $3,495 at press time.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2017 Zox News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by WordPress.