bitcoin seeking support
BitBull Capital’s Joe DiPasquale says bitcoin is now making an “underside test” that has already lost the $23K and $22K levels, which will determine if it reclaims the $23K mark Or will drop to $20K “rather quickly”.
“The market is also dependent on macroeconomic growth, and given that December consumer prices were higher than previously expected, the market may begin to consider a larger rate hike at the next FOMC,” he told CoinDesk in a note. “
In search of support, bitcoin is also digesting regulatory developments. Last week, Kraken – but not Coinbase – was fined $30 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its staking program. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Paxos is next on the SEC’s hit list as it targets the Binance USD stablecoin.
“Regulation is also a concern for the crypto space, especially after the $30 million fine the SEC has imposed on the Kraken exchange,” DiPasquale said. “That being said, we believe it is better to gain regulatory clarity in a slow market, as opposed to hard growth during an outright bull market.”
Despite all this, DiPasquale said his firm remains bullish on bitcoin – even if it blows through support levels.
,[We] We would like to accumulate more if the price breaks below $20,000.”
Ether Liquid Staking Platform Will Benefit as SEC Actions May Fail to Knock Out DeFi
Crypto exchange Kraken and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have entered into an agreement on staking.
The regulated Kraken exchange will have to pay a $30 million fine and shut down its US service immediately. But, more importantly, betting continues to happen in the United States. Staking refers to locking tokens for a set period of time to help support the operation of a blockchain. Liquid staking, on the other hand, issues a derivative token that represents the amount of the token locked to a user, allowing them to access decentralized finance (DeFi) services such as lending and borrowing.
The way Kraken offered staking was unique, which is why the exchange shut down the service and the SEC didn’t go after Coinbase or move on the decentralized Liquid Staking Protocol.
At the heart of the SEC’s statement is a lack of transparency on Kraken’s part. Yes, on-chain data shows that Kraken is one of the largest validators, operating a large staking pool. But the SEC appears to be concerned about the money flow: Are stakers actually intending to deposit Ether into Kraken? Or is it being loaned?
Liquid staking protocols like Lido and Rocket Pool would not have the same problem. One can track their Ether from their wallet to the pool via Block Explorer or other chain monitoring tools.
A more reasonable explanation for the increase may come down to the SEC’s current “yellow light” staking. Staking is not permitted as an investment strategy, but staking is permitted as a technical service.
As crypto lawyer Gabriel Shapiro tweeted: “Verification-as-a-Service is not like an ‘earnings’ program, not like taking capital into a business or fund. It’s a ministerial technical service.”
One thing that is telling is that the total value of liquid staking protocols like Lido or Rocket Pool did not increase afterwards.
Since the beginning of the year, the total value locked in Lido has remained stable: it started the year on January 1st at 4.9 million Ether, and now stands at around 5.19 million Ether. Rocket Pool’s ether grew from about 472,000 to 608,000 during the same time period.
Bitcoin (BTC) sank below $22,000 after crypto exchange Kraken agreed to end its crypto staking-as-a-service platform for US customers and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint related to unregistered securities offering. ) paid $30 million to settle the charges. Kettle Partner Zachary Fallon and Bilal Little, President of DFD Partners, weigh in. Separately, a controversial Uniswap vote highlighted the opacity of decentralized governance. Robert Leshner, founder of Compound Labs, joins the conversation. And, Adweek senior reporter Patrick Kulp discusses the lack of crypto ads at the Super Bowl this year.
Source: www.coindesk.com
