Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Differences in the Fourth BTC Halving

This years halving — the quadrennial slashing of the amount of new bitcoin (BTC) entering into circulation — may be the most important since the first one around 12 years ago. And yet, despite intense interest in the event, its price impact may be more muted this year than previous halvings. Recently launched protocols, like Ordinals, and an increasingly robust mining sector, mean the effect could be relatively soft.　　The Bitcoin halving, expected to take place late Friday night or early Saturday (April 20), comes with heightened expectations. In each previous case so far, the halving preceded massive sector-wide rallies. There is an ongoing debate whether the halving is “priced in,” or whether the reduced amount of bitcoin entering into circulation (this time dropping from around 900 BTC per day to 450 BTC) will create a kind of supply shock that will drive prices up (assuming demand for bitcoin remains constant or increases).　　There are two economic theories that explain this debate. On one side are those who believe the halving is priced in believe the efficient market theory. They say because the event is known in advance, and everyone shares the same information, it is impossible that bitcoin is currently undervalued.

2024-04-19Deep Dive

Crypto trader convicted in $110M Mango Markets fraud trial

Crypto trader Avraham Eisenberg was convicted on Thursday in relation to trades he made in October 2022 to extract more than $100 million from Mango Markets, according to a report from Bloomberg.　　28-year-old Eisenberg was charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud and commodities manipulation. The jury found him guilty of all three counts.　　After closing arguments from the government and defense, the jury deliberated Wednesday afternoon and into Thursday before returning with their verdict. The trial lasted one week and took place just a few floors below where FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced last month.　　Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico in December 2022. Prosecutors say he illegally made off with $110 million after manipulating Mango Market futures contracts and pumping the price of swaps by 1,000%. He then borrowed against the contracts and boarded a flight from Puerto Rico to Israel.　　The government says he was fleeing because he committed a crime, but Eisenbergs defense team claims he was running after receiving numerous threats following his trades.　　“The more he pumped, the more he could steal,” government attorneys said Wednesday during their closing arguments. “It is clear as day the defendant knew” he was committing crimes, the prosecution added.　　The defense‘s case focused on

2024-04-19Deep Dive

"Disable iMessages" ASAP to avoid crypto zero-day exploit: Trust Wallet

Crypto wallet provider Trust Wallet is urging Apple users to disable iMessage, citing “credible intel” of a zero-day exploit that could allow hackers to take control of users phones.　　“Alert for iOS users: We have credible intel regarding a high-risk zero-day exploit targeting iMessage on the Dark Web,” the firm posted to X at 7:53 pm UTC on April 16.　　The firm stressed the zero-day exploit can infiltrate and take control of iPhone users without clicking a link and that high-value account holders are most at threat.　　A zero-day exploit is a cyberattack vector that takes advantage of an unknown or unaddressed security flaw in computer software, hardware or firmware.　　Trust Wallet stressed that all crypto wallets held on an iPhone with iMessage switched on are at risk.　　The firms CEO, Eowyn Chen, shared a screenshot of which she claims to be a potential zero-day exploit, showing an asking price of $2 million for the exploit.　　However, the so-called threat was met with skepticism from several industry pundits.　　“If this is your ‘credible intel’ it‘s embarrassing. You don’t have evidence of a iOS exploit you have a screenshot of a guy claiming to have an exploit,” pseudonymous blockchain researcher Beau said in response to Chens screenshot.　　Asked whether

2024-04-17Deep Dive

Korean won surpasses US dollar as most-traded currency for crypto in Q1

The South Korean won took the position of most-used currency, topping the U.S. dollar, for trading crypto during the first quarter of 2024, according to research firm Kaiko.　　The cumulative won trade volume on centralized crypto exchanges during the period recorded $456 billion, while the U.S. dollar reported $445 billion, the data showed.　　“In Q1 2024, the South Korean won surpassed the U.S. dollar in terms of cumulative trade volume,” Kaiko said in the data report.　　South Korea hosts one of the world‘s most active cryptocurrency markets. During the crypto bull run in March, the local crypto trade volume briefly topped that of the country’s stock market.　　Five fully licensed exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax — dominate the local market, where front-runner Upbit takes up over 80% of the market share on most days, according to Kaiko. Runner-up Bithumb sought new users by hosting zero-trading fee campaigns in late 2023.　　Major global exchanges Crypto.com and Binance have also set out to enter the booming South Korean market. Earlier this month, Crypto.com announced that it is launching its retail trading platform in the country on April 29. Binance, on the other hand, had already acquired a major stake in Gopax in 2023. However,

2024-04-17Deep Dive

Cryptocurrency Game Investment Review: Cautious Optimism in the Primary Market

In the just-concluded first quarter, as cryptocurrency prices rose, the first-tier market gradually warmed up. According to PitchBook statistics, the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors raised a total of $2.52 billion in the first quarter of 2024, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 25%. Investments mainly involved L1/L2, DeFi, AI, DePIN, and Web3 games. However, a report jointly released by DappRadar and BGA for the first quarter of 2024 shows that investment in the Web3 game vertical is actually trending downwards. This trend is a correction following the investment frenzy in the metaverse and gaming during the pandemic, affecting not only Web3 games but also the traditional gaming industry.Early Bull Market in the First-tier Market: Cautious Optimism　　The first-quarter blockchain gaming report indicates that the investment outlook in the Web3 and blockchain gaming sectors is cautiously optimistic. The blockchain gaming industry raised $288 million in financing this quarter, showing a significant decline from previous quarters. The analysis attributes this cautious attitude to a challenging past year, with many companies awaiting the results of early investments. Furthermore, the focus of these investments is mainly on Web3 games and infrastructure, indicating that the industry is in a foundational phase aimed at enriching the Web3 gaming ecosystem.　　Considering

2024-04-17Deep Dive

Uncovering 1intro: Analyzing the Incident and Project-KOL Agreements

On the evening of April 14th, 1intro, claimed to be the first native LBP project on Solana, launched its token $1INTRO through the LBP mechanism.　　Solana, as one of the hottest trading blockchains this year, has seen many projects with significant wealth effects. However, it has also seen a large number of fraudulent projects, with many wild projects that initially promised pre-sale payments ultimately pulling the rug, causing players to suffer losses. Therefore, a native LBP on Solana seems timely, potentially filling the narrative and token issuance gap in the Solana ecosystem.　　But the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment.　　If you search for 1intro on Twitter, you will find that many KOLs were promoting this project enthusiastically 1-2 weeks ago, placing high hopes on it. However, the price changes in the LBP process tell the most honest story.　　At the opening, $1INTRO surged to a high of $1.13, translating to a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of approximately $1 billion. However, its price quickly plummeted, with the token price dropping by over 90% within just one day.　　Additionally, with a pre-set token sale quantity of 200 million, only 62.27 million had been sold by the time of writing, showing slow progress.Overvaluation and KOLs Holding

2024-04-16Deep Dive

Bitcoin miners could dump $5B in BTC after halving

There could be a large outflow of Bitcoin from miners in the months following the Bitcoin halving as in previous cycles, according to a market analyst.　　Bitcoin miners could potentially liquidate $5 billion worth of BTC after the halving, according to calculations by the head of research at 10x Research, Markus Thielen, in an April 13 analyst note.　　“The overhang from this selling could last four to six months, explaining why Bitcoin might go sideways for the next few months — as it has done following past halvings,” he added.　　Thielen said that the same could happen again, with crypto markets potentially facing “a significant challenge in a six-month ‘summer’ lull.”　　Bitcoin prices remained range bound between $9,000 and $11,500 in the five months that followed the 2020 halving.　　This year, the halving will occur around April 20, just six days away, so markets may not see any significant upward trajectory until around October if history rhymes.　　Additionally, miners tend to stock up on BTC, “leading to a supply/demand imbalance and a subsequent rally in Bitcoin prices,” leading up to the halving, he said.　　This has already occurred, with BTC prices surging 74% in 2024 to reach an all-time high of $73,734 on March 14 before correcting

2024-04-15Deep Dive

Nigeria’s Binance crackdown threatens Web3 industry

Nigeria is feeling the consequences of actions against Binance executives, with investors withdrawing from deals and partnerships, particularly in the web3 sector. They mention Nigerias perceived lack of safety for business and government hostility, citing the Binance case as evidence, according to Lucky Uwakwe, the chairman of Nigerias Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee (BICCoN).　　In an interview with Cointelegraph, Uwakwe, head of Nigeria‘s intercommunity working group involving Blockchain Nigeria User Group (BNUG), Cryptography Development Initiative of Nigeria (CDIN), and Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN), expressed investors’ concerns.　　According to Uwakwe, investors worry about potential repercussions similar to Binances fate when investing in local Web3 companies. He pointed out that already invested parties are gradually divesting.　　Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla came to Nigeria in February following claims that the exchange manipulated the country‘s fiat currency, the naira. The executives were detained and slammed with five counts bordering on money laundering after a meeting with the Nigerian government over Binance’s regulatory woes.　　Uwakwe stated that the governments approach to the Binance issue is adversely impacting the entire nation. By pursuing fines against Binance, the government is essentially undermining the entire industry, sacrificing potential growth for short-term measures.　　When asked about the possibility

2024-04-15Deep Dive

This Week Noteworthy Events (April 15, 2024, to April 21, 2024)

Solana Network Repair Update Expected to Launch Today　　Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius, the Solana ecosystem development platform, stated that the current issues with Solana, specifically its network instability, are not due to protocol design flaws but rather bugs in specific implementations.　　Mert Mumtaz explained that the protocol design is like the overall design of a car, while the specific implementation is like different models of cars from various brands. Having issues with one model doesnt mean all cars have design flaws. Solana uses the QUIC network protocol, but the current QUIC implementation version has some defects and bugs. Therefore, Solana only needs to replace the problematic parts without changing the entire model.　　He revealed that the implementation being developed by Firedancer does not have the same issues. The repair update is expected to be released today, and if other issues are found during the testing process, the launch time may be delayed. Besides technical issues, he believes that Solana also needs to consider long-term economic sustainability factors. After fixing the bugs, clearer planning for the on-chain fee market and economic incentive measures can be made.Arbitrum Foundation Grant Program Phase Three Applications to Open on April 15th　　According to official announcements, the Arbitrum Foundation

2024-04-15Deep Dive

Nine VCs Reflect on Q1 Crypto Funding: Rebounding but Falling Short of Previous Bull Market

Tom Schmidt, a partner at Dragonfly Capital, said, “If the cryptocurrency venture capital landscape of 2023 was a pot of cold water, then the first quarter of 2024 is when the water starts to boil and bubbles begin to form.”　　According to PitchBook data, the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors raised a total of $2.52 billion in the first quarter of 2024. This is about 25% higher than the $2.02 billion raised in the fourth quarter of 2023.　　David Nage, portfolio manager at Arca, stated, “Its an unusually busy period right now, feels like 2021 all over again. 2021s fundraising was like having a gun to your head, you had to do it, and that feeling is back.” Nage said his firm tracked over 690 cross-stage financings that occurred in the first quarter, which is about 30% to 40% higher than the low point of 2023.　　Alex Felix, co-founder and chief investment officer of CoinFund, commented, “In the first quarter, the financing outlook for crypto venture capital is cautiously optimistic, and companies have moved past the financing difficulties of the previous two years.”　　Felix added that despite a significant year-over-year decline in venture capital and cryptocurrency financing in 2023 (about 65%), trading activity has clearly

2024-04-12Deep Dive

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