As Bitcoin (BTC) continues hovering around the $20K zone, market sentiment might be changing from fear to capitulation.
“Bitcoin goes from $69,000 to $17,600, and people are still looking for signs of capitulation? There can be another downswing to $16,000-$14,000, but be aware that you will never time the BTC bottom. DCA all the way,” Market analyst Ali Martinez explained.
Bitcoin slipped to lows of $17K over the weekend, but it has been able to reclaim the $20K level. The leading cryptocurrency was hovering around $20,203 during intraday trading, according to CoinMarketCap.
“The market sentiment around Bitcoin appears to have shifted from “Fear” to “Capitulation.” This represents the last stage of a bearish cycle before the market sentiment shifts into “Hope” to signal the beginning of a new bull market.”
Source: Glassnode
Capitulation in the market happens when investors have given up on trying to recover lost gains based on falling prices. As a result, analysts believe that it signifies a market bottom.
On the other hand, Bitcoin needs to stay above the significant support zone of $20K because this will increase its chances of building momentum. Martinez noted:
“Over 400K addresses bought 516K BTC at $19,200, which should serve as support. Still, transaction history also shows that 700K addresses had previously purchased 520K BTC between $20,300 and $21,500. These are the most important support and resistance areas you should pay attention to.”
Meanwhile, Bitcoin needs to break above $22,500 to reclaim the 200-week moving average (MA) as support, says crypto analyst Rekt Capital.
Source: TradingView/RektCapital
The 200-week MA reflects a long-term measure that shows four years of an asset’s price action. Previously, it acted as the last shield during BTC bear cycles.
A former senior manager at crypto exchange Huobi has been accused of illicit trading, according to a report from the Financial Times.
The report stated that Huobi has filed a lawsuit against Chen Boliang for secretly making $5 million by trading against an account he controlled. Chen was a senior manager at the company looking after institutional clients in Hong Kong.
The accusation includes setting up a retail trading account in his father’s name. Furthermore, he extended the account a $20 million credit line from the exchange before trading against it from another corporate account he controlled. Ultimately, he managed to net some $5 million in profits denominated in USDC.
The report stated that the illicit trades happened back in February and March in 2020. The defendant was arrested in May 2020 and charged with “accessing Huobi’s computer systems with criminal or dishonest intent and dealing with the proceeds of a crime.”
Currently, Chen is out on bail for $25,000.
As per a spokesperson from Huobi, Chen’s employment with the company was terminated in May 2020.
In recent developments, the Thailand subsidiary of Huobi had its operating license revoked by the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for failing to comply with the system security requirements laid down by the regulator, Blockchain.News reported.
The license had come into effect on May 17, and the trading platform has been given until July 1 to shut down operations.
The report added that Huobi’s Thai outfit was first flagged in March last year for its inadequate system measures. It was then suspended in September on the grounds that its customer asset retention platform, information technology system and trading systems were below standards.
The suspension came with numerous extensions granted for the trading platform to fix the flagged issues, but no progress was made.
Since cryptocurrency is changing the personal finance adoption, questions about what it entails have been going through the roof on Google, according to a study by Crypto Wallet, an end-to-end crypto banking and commercial solution.
Per the report:
“What is cryptocurrency is by far the most asked question, with 121,000 average monthly searches, followed by “what is crypto” with 31,000 average monthly searches, for a total of 152,000 searches each month made by people wondering about this “mysterious” asset.”
Top 10 most googled questions about cryptocurrency
Rank
Keyword
Volume
1
what is cryptocurrency
121,000
2
what is crypto
31,000
3
how to buy cryptocurrency
24,000
4
why is crypto crashing
23,000
5
what is crypto mining
22,000
6
why is crypto down
19,000
7
why is crypto down today
16,000
8
how to mine cryptocurrency
16,000
9
how does cryptocurrency work
16,000
10
how to invest in cryptocurrency
14,000
Source: CryptoWallet
With cryptocurrency being a decentralized digital asset whose transactions are registered on an open ledger, the study noted that people were willing to learn about this cutting-edge technology.
A Crypto Wallet spokesperson commented:
“As the world enters a new era of personal finance and crypto is changing the way we might see money and spending, people want to be as informed as possible, either to keep up with changing times, investing actual time and effort into crypto, or just due to curiosity towards a relatively new and fascinating phenomenon.”
“How to buy cryptocurrency” was the third most googled question with 24,000 monthly searches, showing the urge for people to enter the crypto space. Based on the current bearish run in the crypto market, “why is crypto crashing” emerged fourth with 23,000 average monthly searches. The study noted:
“This question can be more topical and time-sensitive, as people might wonder what is happening within the crypto market at given times, and the reasons why a certain cryptocurrency might be crashing can vary.”
For instance, the 28-year interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve (Fed) has been one of the factors triggering a downtrend in the Bitcoin market.
The study also acknowledged that the other common curiosities were around crypto mining and declining cryptocurrency.
Animoca Brands and its digital collectables market subsidiary Quidd announced on Tuesday that it has launched Mintables, a feature that enables users to mint and un-mint digital collectables into NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
In a statement, Animoca said that Mintables will make minting of NFTs easier and cheaper for beginners and remove the need for cryptocurrency to do so, while the assets remain interoperable with major Ethereum NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible.
Mintables solves several challenges facing the NFT industry. First, minting NFTs has been a difficult and expensive thing for many crypto novices. Therefore, with the launch of With Mintables, Quidd will significantly reduce the cost, time, and complexity for mainstream users to make their first mint. In this case, such crypto novices will only need a self-custody wallet like MetaMask to make their minting, no cryptocurrency is required.
Seasoned NFT users also face difficulty because officially licensed branded NFTs are normally locked down in centralized applications and custodial wallets. Mintables, therefore, provides seasoned NFT enthusiasts with off-the-shelf interoperability with major Ethereum NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea and Rarible.
Besides that, Mintables enables users to remint and unmint digital collectables on new blockchains, depending on a user’s discretion. This marketplace provides unique portability that enables NFT owners to bring their NFTs to major blockchain platforms whenever they want.
Michael Bramlage, CEO and co-founder of Quidd, talked about the development: “With Mintables, we are delivering user choice in addition to true digital ownership. Why should the platform decide if a digital item should be on a blockchain, or even which blockchain? The Mintables initiative gives real power to the collectors.”
With the launch, officially licensed Atari digital collectables on Quidd are now available for minting and unminting on the Ethereum blockchain for as little as $3 per mint. Quidd said it plans to open up more collections for minting, and will add support for more blockchains such as WAX, Flow, and Binance Smart Chain.
Mintables provides other benefits for over 7,000,000 collectors on Quidd. The firm elaborated: “Minting preserves an item’s metadata and the collector’s ownership of the item inside Quidd. Minting does not affect any ranks or status in the Quidd community, and the Quidd app aggregates both digital collectables and NFTs in a single collection interface.”
Acquired by Animoca Brands in 2019, Quidd deals with the virtual collecting and trading of collectables by major brands such as football teams like Manchester United shows like Ricky and Morty, and others.
Social Media Firm Adding NFT Features
NFTs have emerged to become a leader in the digital revolution. A good number of NFT platforms such as Axie Infinity, Nifty Gateway, Binance, OpenSea, Solanart, Stashh, Decentraland, Rarible, and others, have come to provide NFTs services to users. Even Social media networks like Meta Inc., and Twitter, among others are jumping on the NFT bandwagon.
The social media craze began when the ‘Twitter Blue’ account users were allowed to put NFTs as profile pictures. A few months later, Meta launched 3D Avatars for Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram and enabled users in Mexico, Canada, and the US to beam their virtual selves across apps via feed posts, stickers, and profile pictures. YouTube also recently started the distribution of personalized NFTs to the influencers on the platform. Reddit also has rolled out a first test for changing profile pictures with an NFT.
The global NFT market size reached $340 million in 2020 and is projected to hit $3,50,000 million in 2030. As more and more firms, artists, producers, and users connect with it, the growth of the NFT industry rises.
Crypto exchange platform Bybit has announced plans to list the inaugural BloxVerse platform token OBX on Bybit Launchpad 2.0.
According to the announcement, the company’s initial exchange offering for OBX will be hosted on the Bybit Launchpad 2.0 on June 30.
OpenBlox is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) based non-fungible token (NFT) gaming and web3 platform. It focuses on play-and-earn, move-and-earn and IP branding.
The company said that users can use its token, BIT, to subscribe to token allocations or participate in Launchpad 2.0’s new lottery model.
“Users stake a nominal amount of Tether (USDT) for the chance to win allocations of new tokens,” the announcement said.
Bybit users can also buy the best performing tokens from previous listings via the Launchpad.
The new grid trading features went live for all registered users on June 20. It further added that users will also have access to the grid trading bot to automate their buy and sell orders and adjust their investment amount.
“By executing low purchase orders that lead to high sell orders during a lateral price movement, the system ensures profitability each time the sale price exceeds the purchase price, thus eliminating the need for market forecasting,” Bybit said in an announcement.
The grid trading bot assists users in carrying out the Grid Trading Strategy. It enables users to place a series of purchase and sell orders within a given price range.
Big 4 auditing firm Deloitte has formed a strategic alliance with NYDIG as both seek to make Bitcoin (BTC) a more accessible digital currency for all.
As announced by Deloitte, the alliance will make it easy for companies, irrespective of their sizes, to integrate Bitcoin services, riding on the infrastructural capabilities of NYDIG.
Companies that utilize the onboarding route this alliance will offer will largely be able to leverage the consulting and professional services being provided by Deloitte. The partnership will see NYDIG utilize “Deloitte’s blockchain and digital assets practise across multiple areas involving bitcoin products, such as banking, consumer loyalty, and rewards programs, employee benefits, and more.”
Deloitte is one of the biggest accounting firms with concerted efforts to drive Bitcoin and blockchain adoption across the board.
Despite the current bearish outlook of the digital currency ecosystem, there has been a growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin. Alliances like this can bring more people to benefit from its decentralization power. According to Deloitte, the coalition will be the most active in cases where compliance is important regarding embracing digital currencies.
“We envision a world where traditional financial infrastructure works alongside digital asset infrastructure to deliver clients a best-in-class experience with the highest standards of regulatory compliance,” said Yan Zhao, President of NYDIG, adding that “We’ve already started the journey of bringing Bitcoin to all by embedding bitcoin wallets into existing user experiences, powering bitcoin rewards programs, and enabling bitcoin-secured lending.”
The number of businesses that accept cryptocurrencies is increasing by the day and digital currency holders arguably needed an environment to spend their acquired coins. The coming together of NYDIG and Deloitte solves this immediate challenge and will ultimately empower businesses to be a part of the evolution of the nascent virtual currency ecosystem.
FTX US is deepening its hold as it looks to hit it off on the right foot with regulators concerning its new stock product offerings.
In doing this, the firm has announced the acquisition of Embed Financial Technologies Inc., including its wholly-owned subsidiary Embed Clearing LLC for an undisclosed sum.
According to the trading platform, the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The acquisition is mutually beneficial for both companies as FTX US brings massive capital to help Embed scale and meet its brokerage and clearing obligations.
The company offers brokerage services and APIs to licensed brokers and registered investment advisors. Prior to this time, it counted FTX US as one of its numerous clients. The startup is a new FINRA, DTC, NSCC, Nasdaq, and IEX member clearing firm.
“As I mentioned when we launched FTX Stocks, our new equities and ETF trading platform, our goal at FTX is to provide a comprehensive trading application that spans all asset classes,” said FTX US President, Brett Harrison, “For equities and options trading this necessarily includes services such as clearing and custody, and our partnership with Embed showed us that they have built excellent technology and infrastructure to provide these services. We’re looking forward to working together to integrate both our teams and our technology as we continue to build FTX Stocks.”
FTX US is growing amongst the ranks, and it became a unicorn back in March when it raised the sum of $400 million at an $8 billion valuation.
The trading platform has a distinct interest in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activities. The acquisition of Embed is not the first of its kind, as it completed the purchase of LedgerX, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulated clearing house.
BlockFi, in exploring avenues to leave the league of the most distressed cryptocurrency lending platforms around, has got a $250 million credit facility from FTX Derivatives Exchange.
Announcedon Tuesday by BlockFi CEO Zac Prince, the company is now on track to bolster its balance sheet and general platform strength. The utilization of the new credit facility will be primarily centred on being deployed as a contractually subordinate capital to “all client balances across all account types (BIA, BPY & loan collateral)”, with Zac promising that the funds “will be used as needed.”
FTX’s latest action is described as a rescue mission in restoring the confidence of the recent crash of the crypto market. Over the past few weeks, the market was being challenging for digital currency asset providers, particularly crypto lenders. Celsius Network halted its withdrawals and virtually all of its core operations and said that it would need more time to resume its operations recently. In its efforts to resolve its current woes, Celsius has started repaying its outstanding loans, sending $10 million in DAI stablecoin to Compound.
While BlockFi’s woes are not as pronounced as Celsius Network’s or Babel Finance’s, the firm has unveiled plans to cut operational costs by laying off 20% of its workforce. Zac commented on the secured credit facility and said the funds would bolster its working relationship and collaboration with FTX.
“Throughout the market volatility of the last several weeks, I’m incredibly proud of how our team, platform, and risk management protocols have performed. Today’s landmark announcement reinforces BlockFi’s commitment to serving its clients and ensuring their funds are safeguarded,” Zac said in the tweet, “This agreement also unlocks future collaboration and innovation between BlockFi & FTX as we work to accelerate prosperity worldwide through crypto financial services. This is a significant step forward in our commitment to the strength and accessibility of crypto markets.”
Zac reiterated BlockFi’s commitment to its customers adding that it will also weather this current storm as it has always done.
Two real estate properties located in London are now being tokenized. Hong Kong property tycoon Henry Cheng’s owned Knight Dragon will issue 100,000 security tokens for the real estate items, according to Forbes.
Global law firm Baker McKenzie announced on Tuesday that it has advised Knight Dragon Investments Limited (“Knight Dragon”) and its subsidiary KD Tokens Limited on the tokenization of economic interests in the 191-unit Building 4, Upper Riverside Development – a 191-unit luxury residential development that is located in London, United Kingdom.
Baker McKenzie offered legal and financial structure and other advisory services, which enabled Knight Dragon to tokenize its 29-story high-rise luxury residential development, which is at the heart of the corporation’s ten million-square-foot iconic Greenwich Peninsula development.
The 191-unit luxury residential property is the UK’s latest real estate-backed security token offering (STO) and the first project of Knight Dragon Investments’ real estate tokenization plan to tokenize approximately $500 million of its real estate projects across the UK in the near future.
Knight Dragon, a London-based property developer owned by Hong Kong’s property tycoon Henry Cheng, tokenized at least $140 million of the value of the 191-unit luxury residential property.
According to Forbes, citing Knight Dragon’s announcement that it plans to issue 100,000 security tokens. The tokens, named KDB4, will entitle their holders to a share of 80% of the gross profits generated from Knight Dragon’s Building 4.
KDB4 Tokens are created and digitized using Blockchain technology and Baker McKenzie’s advisory services and issued on the technology. Investors (holders of KDB4 Tokens) will share 80% of the gross profit generated from the prime Central London real-estate development. Part of the profits made from Greenwich Peninsula Building 4 will be distributed to each holder of KDB4 Tokens.
Knight Dragon’s token structure is backed by the property’s audited, actual cash flows. With blockchain, investors benefit from the token’s simplicity and transparency, which represents profits from a prime Central London real estate development. Holders of the tokens are also set to automatically be entitled to future Knight Dragon developments in Greenwich Peninsula, having the first right to invest in or buy future offerings from Knight Dragon.
Joy Lam, a virtual asset specialist, who led the Baker McKenzie team in advising Knight Dragon, said the Knight Dragon building tokenization is a ground-breaking transaction that transforms a traditionally illiquid asset into an efficient and transparent investment product that is accessible to a broad base of investors.
“We are pleased to be advising on the structure and offer of these blockchain-native digital tokens that represent a fractionalized interest in the economics of prime real estate in Central London. This innovative transaction clearly demonstrates how blockchain technology can be harnessed by future-oriented asset owners.”
Knight Dragon Developments is a property developer, interior designer, real estate investor, and property services manager. The real estate development firm is incorporated in Hong Kong with an experienced development team and is an investment vehicle owned by Henry Cheng of New World Development.
The urban regeneration of Greenwich Peninsula is becoming big enough to hold its own against the massive 51-storey skyscrapers of Canary Wharf.
A former industrial site, Greenwich Peninsula is poised to become home to 40,000 people over the next 10 years. It is emerging as a destination to visit, and a place to work and grow a business – particularly for those in the creative industries.
Some 5,000 residents have already moved into the two out of seven neighbourhoods already completed (Upper Riverside and Lower Riverside).
Dr Henry Cheng Kar-Shun, the son of the founder of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, is chairman of Knight Dragon. Dr Cheng worked with Knight Dragon founder and vice-chairman Sammy Lee and CEO Richard Margree to acquire Greenwich Peninsula back in 2012.
Blockchain Boosting Real Estate Business
The latest development by Knight Dragon is a testimony that blockchain-based real estate is gaining increasing popularity as a way for investors, buyers, and sellers to interact with each other and learn about properties.
Blockchain is making a tremendous impact on the real estate industry. By leveraging Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), trust increases through greater transparency in the sector. Trust in real estate websites, agents, and listings are imperative in the industry. Blockchain expedites contract processes, saves time, and reduces costs.
The technology makes it possible for users to tokenize houses, properties, and apartments and represent them on the blockchain.
Two real estate properties located in London are now being tokenized. Around 100,000 security tokens will be issued, according to Forbes.
Global law firm Baker McKenzie announced on Tuesday that it has advised Knight Dragon Investments Limited (“Knight Dragon”) and its subsidiary KD Tokens Limited on the tokenization of economic interests in the 191-unit Building 4, Upper Riverside Development – a 191-unit luxury residential development that is located in London, United Kingdom.
Baker McKenzie offered legal and financial structure and other advisory services, which enabled Knight Dragon to tokenize its 29-story high-rise luxury residential development, which is at the heart of the corporation’s ten million-square-foot iconic Greenwich Peninsula development.
The 191-unit luxury residential property is the UK’s latest real estate-backed security token offering (STO) and the first project of Knight Dragon Investments’ real estate tokenization plan to tokenize approximately $500 million of its real estate projects across the UK in the near future.
Knight Dragon, a London-based property developer owned by Hong Kong’s property tycoon Henry Cheng, tokenized at least $140 million of the value of the 191-unit luxury residential property.
According to Forbes, citing Knight Dragon’s announcement that it plans to issue 100,000 security tokens. The tokens, named KDB4, will entitle their holders to a share of 80% of the gross profits generated from Knight Dragon’s Building 4.
KDB4 Tokens are created and digitized using Blockchain technology and Baker McKenzie’s advisory services and issued on the technology. Investors (holders of KDB4 Tokens) will share 80% of the gross profit generated from the prime Central London real-estate development. Part of the profits made from Greenwich Peninsula Building 4 will be distributed to each holder of KDB4 Tokens.
Knight Dragon’s token structure is backed by the property’s audited, actual cash flows. With blockchain, investors benefit from the token’s simplicity and transparency, which represents profits from a prime Central London real estate development. Holders of the tokens are also set to automatically be entitled to future Knight Dragon developments in Greenwich Peninsula, having the first right to invest in or buy future offerings from Knight Dragon.
Joy Lam, a virtual asset specialist, who led the Baker McKenzie team in advising Knight Dragon, said the Knight Dragon building tokenization is a ground-breaking transaction that transforms a traditionally illiquid asset into an efficient and transparent investment product that is accessible to a broad base of investors.
“We are pleased to be advising on the structure and offer of these blockchain-native digital tokens that represent a fractionalized interest in the economics of prime real estate in Central London. This innovative transaction clearly demonstrates how blockchain technology can be harnessed by future-oriented asset owners.”
Knight Dragon Developments is a property developer, interior designer, real estate investor, and property services manager. The real estate development firm is incorporated in Hong Kong with an experienced development team and is an investment vehicle owned by Henry Cheng of New World Development.
The urban regeneration of Greenwich Peninsula is becoming big enough to hold its own against the massive 51-storey skyscrapers of Canary Wharf.
A former industrial site, Greenwich Peninsula is poised to become home to 40,000 people over the next 10 years. It is emerging as a destination to visit, and a place to work and grow a business – particularly for those in the creative industries.
Some 5,000 residents have already moved into the two out of seven neighbourhoods already completed (Upper Riverside and Lower Riverside).
Dr Henry Cheng Kar-Shun, the son of the founder of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, is chairman of Knight Dragon. Dr Cheng worked with Knight Dragon founder and vice-chairman Sammy Lee and CEO Richard Margree to acquire Greenwich Peninsula back in 2012.
Blockchain Boosting Real Estate Business
The latest development by Knight Dragon is a testimony that blockchain-based real estate is gaining increasing popularity as a way for investors, buyers, and sellers to interact with each other and learn about properties.
Blockchain is making a tremendous impact on the real estate industry. By leveraging Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), trust increases through greater transparency in the sector. Trust in real estate websites, agents, and listings are imperative in the industry. Blockchain expedites contract processes, saves time, and reduces costs.
The technology makes it possible for users to tokenize houses, properties, and apartments and represent them on the blockchain.
