Crypto News LIVE Updates: Last week, the SEC issued a “fear of missing out” warning to the broader public. The warning comes at a time when the spot Bitcoin ETF buzz has lifted the global crypto market cap this month. The US securities watchdog believes that even if such a product was approved, it doesn’t necessarily mean everybody should dip their toes in it.
As investors grew nervous about Bitcoin ETFs, a former SEC official took a swipe at the spot Bitcoin ETF applicants, calling them “opportunistic cartels” that are generating hype around a product with zero inherent value. Note that several financial giants, including the likes of BlackRock and Grayscale Investments, have made a beeline to offer spot Bitcoin products.
Meanwhile, the global crypto market tumbled over 1.2% in the past 24 hours to $1.63 trillion. Bitcoin’s price had dropped below $43,310 in the early morning, but the OG cryptocurrency has since pared some losses. BTC price currently stands at $43,857, down 0.2% over the last 24 hours. At press time, all top cryptocurrencies by market cap were trading in the red, except Tether (USDT) and USDC.
Crypto News LIVE: OKX Adds BONK, JTO To Spot Trading
In a move to diversify its spot trading services, crypto exchange OKX has added Solana-based Bonk (BONK) and Jito (JTO) to its spot trading offerings. While the inclusion of JTO and BONK has fuelled expectations of a price rebound, both tokens have seen decline in their prices over the last 24 hours.
Crypto News LIVE: Singapore Regulator Grants Major Payment License To Upbit
Crypto exchange Upbit Singapore on Monday announced it has received a Major Payment License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The regulatory nod is likely to help Upbit Singapore attract more institutional investors to the platform amid increasing regulatory scrutiny.
Crypto News LIVE: Erratic Whale Behavior Leads To Decline in XRP Price
Ripple’s native cryptocurrency XRP is experiencing a decline in prices, largely due to whales’ actions. XRP whales shifted over 126 million XRP tokens in the past 24 hours, of which 26.7 million tokens were transferred from an unknown wallet to crypto exchange Bitstamp. The sell-off has resulted in a drop in XRP price, which stood at $0.55 as of writing, down 1.6% over the last 24 hours.
Crypto News LIVE: Shiba Inu Team Releases Step-By-Step Guide To Buy Shibarium NFTs
Amid reports that Shibarium, the layer-2 blockchain affiliated with the Shiba Inu meme coin, was seeing a decline in transactions, a member of the SHIB ecosystem took to X (formerly Twitter) and outlined steps on how to buy Shibarium-based non-fungible tokens.
How To buy #Shibarium NFTs, follow these steps:
1. Prepare $Bone & ETH: Ensure you have $Bone and ETH in your wallet.
2. Set Up Shibarium Network: Open in your wallet browser https://t.co/VMJOlwN4aP and ADD SHIBARIUM NETWORK.
3. Bridge Your $Bone: Head to… pic.twitter.com/Hhb3DuAR6X
— 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐄 | Shibarium ⛓️ (@LucieSHIB) January 7, 2024
Crypto News LIVE: Shibarium Sees Massive Decline in Transactions
Shibarium — the layer-2 blockchain tied to the Shiba Inu meme coin — is witnessing a massive decline in transaction activity, with its cumulative transaction count dropping to 5.69 million from an average of 7 million in the past 30 days. This has resulted in a sharp decline in SHIB prices, with the token falling over 6% to $0.000009036 over the last 24 hours.
As Bitcoin Halving Draws Closer, Where is BTC Price Headed?
Historically, Bitcoin’s price has appreciated after each halving. A closer look at BTC Price Chart revealed that Bitcoin’s value rose by nearly 5200% between 2012 and 2016 while the BTC price zoomed 3000% after the 2016 halving event. In fact, Bitcoin hit a lifetime high of $69,000 post the 2020-halving event.
Crypto News LIVE: Japanese E-Commerce Giant Mercari To Start Accepting Bitcoin As Payments Soon
In a move that is certain to give a fillip to Bitcoin adoption in Japan, Mercari — one the country’s biggest e-commerce players — announced plans to start accepting Bitcoin as payments, starting June this year. The responsibility to convert Bitcoin payments into Japanese Yen will lie with Melcoin, the Tokyo-based subsidiary of Mercari.
Crypto News LIVE: Spot Bitcoin ETFs Will Expose Investors To “Financial Ruin and Incalculable Risk”, Warns Former SEC Official
Former US SEC official John Reed Stark on Sunday took aim at spot Bitcoin ETF applicants, calling them “opportunistic cartels”. Stark remarked that a spot Bitcoin ETF has no inherent value whatsoever, warning that financial giants pursuing such a product are exposing investors to “financial ruin and incalculable risk” — only to line their pockets.
Crypto News LIVE: Polygon Leapfrogs Solana To Become Third Largest NFT Trading Platform
Polygon overtook Solana to become the third-largest NFT trading network on Sunday, data from CryptoSlam shows. Polygon had earlier clocked a daily sales volume worth $9,986,754, almost double than that of Solana’s.
Crypto News LIVE: Bloomberg Analyst Flashes 95% Odds of Bitcoin ETF Approval
Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas forecast a positive decision on the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from the US securities watchdog, aligning with the expectations of the crypto community. Balchunas said the probability of a rejection has now fallen from 10% to 5%.
Crypto News LIVE: Shiba Inu To Burn 9.25 Trillion Tokens To Cap Supply
The Shiba Inu (SHIB) development team is planning to burn $9.2 trillion SHIB tokens in January in an attempt to reduce the circulating supply and lift the value of the popular meme coin. While SHIB tokens have been destroyed consistently since the past few months, the manual process will soon to be automated.
Crypto News LIVE: Honduras Recognizes Bitcoin
The Honduras special economic zone Prospera recognized Bitcoin as a unit of account, making the cryptocurrency acceptable for commercial, tax, and financial transactions.
Crypto News LIVE: Polygon NFT Volume
The volume of Polygon NFTs has breached that of Solana (SOL) in the past 24 hours, making it the third after Bitcoin and Ethereum in NFT sales volume.
Crypto News LIVE: XRP ETF Soon?
Rumours are afloat that an application for an XRP ETF would be filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in the context of the potential approval of a Bitcoin ETF.