Off The Chain Episode #58 w/ Rice Crypto, Trekk w/ Two Ks, Allen Hena, Ten Pound and More! Tesla Makes More From Bitcoin Than Building Cars, Elon Musk & Peter Schiff Battle, ETH Hits $2k and More!
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) quickly recovered from around $44,800 to over $50,000 within merely 22 hours.
Behind the rapid recovery are three major factors, including low funding rates, Square’s $170 million Bitcoin purchase, and the spot market stabilizing.
Bitcoin futures funding rates substantially drop
Across major futures exchanges, including Binance, Bybit and Bitfinex, the funding rate of Bitcoin has dropped to 0.01%.
The Bitcoin futures funding rate was consistently above 0.1% throughout the entirety of the rally from the $40,000s to $58,000.
When the futures funding rate is high, it means the market is overcrowded with buyers and the rally likely overextended.
This creates a major risk of a long squeeze, which can cause the price of Bitcoin to drop quickly in a short period.
With the funding rate back to 0.01%, the risk of a long squeeze is significantly lower and if a new…
Blockchain
Business
Markets
Tech
Hedera makes inroads in Africa as Standard Bank Group becomes node operator
Standard Bank Group — Africa’s largest bank by assets — has partnered with enterprise-grade distributed ledger technology project Hedera Hashgraph.
According to a joint announcement, the African banking giant now joins other major corporations like Google, LG, and IBM as a member of the Hedera Governing Council.
Standard Bank will also become a Hedera node operator, the first in Africa with a focus on utilizing DLT to ease bottlenecks in cross-border trade on the continent.
Across Africa, innovations in domestic payment rails have created faster and efficient transaction systems. However, this advancement is yet to translate to the cross-border payment transaction scene with stablecoins already identified as having the potential to solve these issues.
For Ian Putter, head of DLT and blockchain at Standard Bank Group, the partnership with Hedera is part of the bank’s focus on utilizing decentralized technology to improve cross-border trade in Africa.
Putter told Cointelegraph that the bank…
A federal district court in the United States has dismissed a securities fraud class action against Israel-based cryptocurrency firm Bancor.
U.S. district judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled on Monday to dismiss a case against Bancor, stating that plaintiffs had failed to allege losses as well as citing lack of personal jurisdiction. The judge has also canceled an oral argument scheduled for March 4, 2021, entering judgment in favor of the defendants.
The case was brought by New York law firms Roche Cyrulnik Freedman and Selendy & Gay in April 2020, alleging that the Bancor protocol developer, BProtocol Foundation, violated federal and state securities laws in the U.S. by selling unregistered securities.
According to a filing seen by Cointelegraph, the court found that activities promoting the BNT token were not sufficient to give the court jurisdiction over the BProtocol Foundation. “The Court lacks personal or specific jurisdiction over the Defendants,…
Blockchain Australia — the industry body for the novel tech in the country — has expelled Qoin, a retail merchant crypto project based in Gold Coast, Queensland.
According to a notice of disciplinary action issued on Feb. 19, Blockchain Australia initially served Qoin with a summons to respond on Jan. 29.
However, Qoin reportedly failed to respond to the notice, forcing Blockchain Australia to expel the project from its membership ranks. Detailing its decision, the notice reads:
“On 17 February 2021, the Board of Blockchain Australia, having considered the Notice and the Response and the circumstances of the matter, resolved, pursuant to the Constitution, to terminate the Member’s membership of Blockchain Australia. The former Member has been asked to cease the use of the Blockchain Australia logo and name in connection with their business or promotional activities.”
However, the Qoin team claims that it was not given ample time…
Bitcoin
Policy & Regulation
Tech
India’s central bank ‘very much in the game‘ with digital currency project
Indian authorities continue to express support for a government-backed digital currency to replace privately-issued cryptocurrencies.
According to Bloomberg, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das has expressed the central bank’s determination to create a digital rupee. According to Das, India’s central bank is “very much in the game” and wants to emulate China’s digital currency electronic project, the digital yuan.
The RBI chief also revealed that the digital rupee project is a major focus for the central bank. While there has been no official release date for the proposed CBDC, Das said that the RBI is currently finetuning the technological and procedural protocols of the sovereign digital currency system.
As part of the interview, Das maintained the RBI’s anti-crypto stance expressing concerns that cryptos are a threat to India’s financial stability.
According to Das, the RBI has reported these concerns to the authorities in government and could shape incoming crypto regulations.
As…
Bitcoin (BTC) hit back to reclaim $50,000 on Feb. 24 amid fresh bullish comments from major investors.
BTC price exits $40,000 range
Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView tracked a 14% rise from Tuesday’s lows over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin posting local highs of $51,278 on Bitstamp.
At the time of writing, $50,000 was forming a price focus with bulls still to take charge to dictate new support levels.
After its 20% decline from all-time highs this week, Bitcoin’s almost instant renaissance accompanied votes of confidence from various investment sources.
Among them was Ark Investment Management founder, CEO and CIO Cathie Wood, who said that the retracement was a “healthy” sign given months of near-vertical upside.
Speaking to Bloomberg, she said that was “very positive on Bitcoin, very happy to see a healthy correction here.”
That correction…