“Bitcoin’s biggest July transactions primarily happened during the bottom, and transaction volume is beginning to normalize now.”
Source: Santiment
The leading cryptocurrency recently dipped to lows of $17K, which contributed to the dwindling transaction volume.
Nevertheless, BTC has regained momentum and breached the $22K, with its price hovering around $22,900 during intraday trading, according to CoinMarketCap.
Market analyst Michael van de Poppe also believes Bitcoin might be staring at the bottom, given that the uncertainty surrounding various crypto lending platforms like Celsius and Voyager has triggered the crash. He pointed out:
“So, not only forced selling from 3AC, LUNA & UST, but also Voyager, BlockFi and Celsius have been causing the markets to crash. On top of that, Tesla did sell 75% of their Bitcoin purchases towards cash. That’s what caused the crash. That’s also why we’re close to the bottom.”
Electric car manufacturer Tesla revealed that it sold $936 million worth of Bitcoin, or 75% of its holdings in the second quarter, symbolising a change of tune, given that the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, has been a notable crypto advocate.
On the other hand, crypto analyst Ali Martinez stipulated that caution should not be thrown to the wind in the BTC market and said:
“Approach Bitcoin with caution. The TD Sequential presents a sell signal on BTC four-hour chart. A sustained four-hour candlestick close below $23,600 can trigger a correction for BTC to $22,500 or even $21,670.”
Source: AliMartinez
Mike McGlone, a Bloomberg Intelligence strategist, recently stated that the upcoming interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve might be a drawback to Bitcoin’s rally.
Etherscan is the most trusted tool for navigating through all the public data on the Ethereum blockchain and is sometimes called “Ethplorer.” This data includes transaction data, wallet addresses, smart contracts and much more. The application is self-contained and is neither sponsored nor administered by the Ethereum Foundation, which is a non-profit organization.
The team behind Etherscan includes seasoned developers and industry professionals, who developed the Etherscan app to make the Ethereum blockchain more accessible to everyday users.
Although Etherscan is a centralized platform, the app does make it easier for people to search through the Ethereum blockchain.
Is Etherscan a wallet?
Etherscan is not an Ethereum wallet, nor is it a wallet service provider. Users don’t receive an Etherscan wallet when they search the Ethereum blockchain on Etherscan.
Etherscan.io is an independent Ethereum-based block explorer. The Etherscan app keeps track of blockchain transactions on the Ethereum network. The app then displays the results like a search engine.
This allows users to find the details of transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, which may give someone peace of mind if their transferred funds have not yet appeared in their wallet.
While Etherscan can track the activity on an Ethereum wallet address, users will need to link the app to an existing crypto wallet to do so.
You may wonder — Is Etherscan free to use? Yes, Etherscan is completely free.
What is Etherscan used for?
Etherscan allows users to view the assets held on any public Ethereum wallet address. Using Etherscan, enter any Ethereum address into the search box to see the current balance and transaction history of the wallet under consideration. Etherscan will also display any gas fees and smart contracts involving that address.
Users can use Etherscan to:
Calculate Ethereum gas fees with the Etherscan gas tracker
Lookup and verify smart contracts
View the crypto assets held in or associated with a public wallet address
Observe live transactions taking place on the Ethereum blockchain
Lookup a single transaction made from any Ethereum wallet
Discover which smart contracts have a verified source code and security audit
Keep track of how many smart contracts a user has authorized with their wallet
Review and revoke access to a wallet for any decentralized applications (DApps)
Users can view any transaction of the Ethereum blockchain on Etherscan. These transactions include failed and pending transactions.
Etherscan can also keep track of the progress of an incoming transfer. One way to track a transaction using Etherscan is to look it up on Etherscan.io using its hash key. The hash provides users with an estimate of how long the transaction will take to confirm. The page refreshes once the transaction is complete.
Etherscan also works as an analytics platform. Anyone can use Etherscan to analyze on-chain metrics like changes to Ether (ETH) gas costs, as well as keep track of their portfolio and monitor their transaction history for suspicious activity.
Only information that is public on the Ethereum blockchain is displayed on Etherscan, so information like a user’s private keys can’t be viewed on the app. Etherscan doesn’t store any private keys and is not involved in any of the transactions shown. The app also cannot be used to solve a transaction failure.
Do users need an account to use Etherscan?
Users are not required to sign up for an account before using the Etherscan app. However, signing up for an Etherscan account does give users access to additional features. These features include the ability to track addresses and receive notifications whenever a transaction occurs. Developers may also sign up to gain free access to Etherscan’s blockchain explorer data and application programming interfaces (APIs).
Thus, users with accounts can add their addresses to the “watch list” on the block explorer to monitor or track their investments. Users can also set alerts so that they’re notified of every incoming transaction via email. Etherscan also provides API services for developers so that they can create decentralized applications.
Etherscan provides the following information for all incoming and outgoing transactions:
Transaction hash
Number of blocks within which the transaction was recorded and the time at which the transaction was confirmed
Sender and receiver addresses
Gas fee
Amount sent
Total transaction fee
How does Etherscan work?
To use Etherscan, simply enter any public Ethereum wallet address into the search field at the top of the Etherscan.io homepage. Doing so will allow users to view all the transactions associated with that address.
Viewing a transaction and wallet on Etherscan
Exploring a wallet address on Etherscan under the “Transactions” tab will show a list of all ETH transactions (Txns), or transactions that have used gas (Gwei) associated with that specific wallet.
Type the wallet address on Etherscan’s homepage and click “Search” to be redirected to a page that displays all of that wallet’s information. The data will include its ETH balance and its value denominated in United States dollar, as well as an overview of the wallet’s transaction history.
Click on the wallet’s Transactions tab, which will open up a new page displaying details on all the transactions involving that address. Details include the transaction ID, block height and when the transaction was confirmed.
The block height refers to the block in which the transaction was included. The sender and recipient addresses and the total transaction fee are shown as well.
To explore and track a single transaction, users will need the transaction hash or transaction ID, or TxHash. A TxHash is a unique string of numbers that identifies a transaction on the blockchain.
When users input the TxHash into the Etherscan search bar, a list of information on that transaction will be populated on the page. From here, users can go to the Transactions tab to review additional information about the said transaction. Such data includes whether the transaction status was successful, pending or failed, as well as the total amount that was transferred.
The value of the transaction in ETH, as well as the USD value of ETH at the time of the transaction, can also be viewed. Etherscan also displays the timestamp for each transaction in addition to the transaction cost, denominated in USD.
How to use the Etherscan gas tracker?
“Gas” refers to the transaction fee associated with a transaction to be executed successfully on the Ethereum blockchain. Transaction costs on Ethereum are referred to as gas fees.
Ethereum’s network can get highly congested. When a considerable amount of traffic is running on Ethereum’s blockchain due to Ethereum’s auction-based model, the average gas price goes up as users compete against one another and bid to have their transactions included in the next block. Consequently, transactions are delayed and some transactions fail.
Gas prices vary depending on the block that the user transaction has been included in, as well as the degree of network congestion. Moreover, users may not be able to discern an accurate estimate of the gas fees they’ll be required to pay before initiating a transaction.
To determine a transaction’s gas fees with accuracy, it’s best to use Etherscan’s gas tracker. Etherscan’s gas tracker does more than simply show users the difference in gas prices at various time intervals. It’s also useful for estimating how congested the network is and what the transaction cost will be per transaction.
The Etherscan gas tracker functions as an ETH gas calculator. It examines pending transactions on the Ethereum blockchain to determine how much gas a transaction will require.
Users receive a gas fee estimate so they can adjust the timing of their transactions to avoid high network traffic. Doing so saves transaction costs and allows for cheaper and smoother transactions, without suffering the anxiety that comes with not knowing whether a transaction will fail or succeed.
How to use Etherscan to check the wallet balance and history?
To see how the balance in a user’s wallet has changed over time, look up the address of the wallet on Etherscan and select “Analytics.” From here, users can see the data analytics of a user’s wallet, such as the user’s ETH balance, the entire transfer history, transactions and fees paid.
Using Etherscan to review smart contracts and wallet access
Smart contracts can be read and edited without the need for special permissions by using the Etherscan app’s “Read Contract” and “Write Contract” features. These tabs provide real-time information on various tokens and smart contracts. Users may also use these features to initiate a token transfer and approve smart contract transactions.
Removing a token’s access to the user’s wallet can be achieved using Etherscan’s Token Approval Checker. When users interact with DApps to buy or swap tokens, they tap directly into a user’s wallet with their permission. Therefore, DApps are an appealing target for scammers looking to gain access to users’ Ethereum wallet addresses.
If users see suspicious activity or believe that a DApp has been compromised, they can use Etherscan to revoke its access to a specific wallet address. The user’s assets inside the wallet will not be lost, but users will need to reauthorize the tokens when they access the DApp the next time around.
To use Etherscan to review a user’s approved token list, look up the user’s wallet address on Etherscan’s Token Approval Checker. Doing so will provide users with a list of all approved smart contract interactions with that wallet. From there, users can connect their wallet to Etherscan and click “revoke” to ensure that the specific DApp no longer has access to the user’s wallet.
The road ahead
Etherscan is one of the leading tools for accessing reliable Ethereum blockchain data. Etherscan can review smart contract code, track gas prices and monitor the Ethereum blockchain in real time.
Finally, Etherscan is free and doesn’t require a user to register to access all of its features. Overall, it’s a great place to start for users who would like to learn the full range of functionalities of a blockchain, as well as their Ethereum wallet and what information they can garner from a blockchain explorer.
The U.S. Treasury Department has announced that it will impose a sanction on the Suex cryptocurrency exchange, which is registered in the Czech Republic.
On Tuesday, September 21, the U.S. Treasury Department disclosed taking such an action against the Suex crypto exchange for allegedly playing a role in facilitating financial transactions for ransomware actors.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told reporters that Suex helped facilitate illegal activity “for their own illicit gains” and had “facilitated transactions involving illicit proceeds for at least eight ransomware variants.”
He further said that more than 40% of the firm’s known transaction history is “associated with illicit actors.”
Adeyemo stated that exchanges such as Suex are critical to cyberattackers’ ability to extract profits, saying that this was the first such action by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) against a digital currency exchange and comes after a series of cyberattacks crippled several industries and even threatened U.S. government agencies.
The Treasury mentioned that ransomware payments amounted to more than $400 million in 2020 alone, four times more than that of 2019.
The new sanction means it will be much more difficult for Suex cryptocurrency exchange to do business with U.S. entities. U.S. citizens are typically banned from carrying out transactions with sanctioned entities.
The Treasury also stated that U.S. companies that engage in certain activities with sanctioned actors could be penalized or face enforcement actions, even if they are unaware of such fact.
According to one U.S. official, the aforementioned sanctions aim to disrupt the illicit financial underpinnings of the ransomware economy, which often use cryptocurrencies to facilitate attacks.
Ban on Ransomware Payments
The move by the U.S. Treasury Department is part of a wider administration strategy to discourage ransomware attacks, in which hackers lock up victim’s computers with data-encrypting malware and then demand payments, especially in cryptocurrency, to unlock them.
The U.S. government sees ransomware as a national security threat and criminal menace and urges companies to report extortion attempts and better protect themselves from them.
This year, cyberattacks attributed to Russia-based groups led to the shutdown of the country’s largest meat supplier and a major fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline.
In June, U.S. President Biden warned his counterpart Russian President Vladimir Putin that he expected Moscow to crackdown ransomware attack activities coming from Russia.
In July, President Biden renewed his warning, stating that the U.S. would take any necessary action to defend critical infrastructure against cyberattack.
In October 2020, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) started sanctioning individuals and institutions that help facilitate payments of ransoms amid a string of ransomware attacks witnessed during that time.
The OFAC stated during that time that the demand for ransomware payments, mostly the use of cryptocurrencies, surged significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic as cybercriminals continued to target online systems to disrupt government entities and businesses for Americans.
After the London Hardfork or EIP 1559 upgrade went live on August 5, Ethereum’s price has been experiencing an uptick, with the latest surge above the psychological level of $3,800.
Prior to touching the $38K level, ETH has broken through the $35K milestone. Data analytic firm IntoTheBlock explained:
“As ETH blows past the $3,500 barrier, the volume of large transactions (>$100k) reaches the highest number since June 22nd with $16.15b.”
Therefore, the price increase prompted transactions above $100,000 to go through the roof on the Ethereum network.
The London Hardfork upgrade introduced scarcity every time Ether was burnt after being used in transactions. This feature helped eliminate inflationary tendencies that the network was accustomed to before.
“The ratio of ETH’s top 10 non-exchange whales is now 3.12 times as much ETH as top 10 exchange whales. A great sign.”
This shows a holding culture because more whales keep their Ethereum in cold storage and digital wallets, which is bullish.
Meanwhile, the non-fungible token (NFT) and decentralised finance (DeFi) sectors have played an instrumental role in Ethereum’s rally based on the prominent participants they bring.
For instance, the NFT market capitalisation on the ETH network is estimated to be $11 billion, as revealed by Messari Crypto researcher Ryan Watkins.
NFTs are blockchain-based digital assets whose value is pegged on their uniqueness, given that these tokens are non-divisible and have to be bought in their entirety.
Different industries have entered the NFT space. For instance, Coca-Cola launched its first-ever NFT collectables to honour International Friendship Day.
On the other hand, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), an American integrated media and entertainment company mainly known for professional wrestling, recently announced the creation of NFTs inspired by 16-time world champion John Cena.
Over the past decade of operation, Luxembourg-based cryptocurrency exchange, Blockchain.com, has now successfully processed over $1 trillion in transactions on its platform.
As unveiled in a blog post shared by the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Macrina Kgil, the company has attained the milestone with a major record of processing almost a third of all transactions on the Bitcoin network.
“We recently hit a major milestone at Blockchain.com, surpassing more than $1 trillion in crypto transacted on our platform; To put that number into context, we’ve handled nearly a third of all bitcoin network transactions since 2012, with the majority of all transactions processed through Blockchain.com Wallets taking place over the past two years.”
Macrina noted that its growth had been fueled primarily by its value offerings to its clients and its unfazed promise delivery. The company said it has over 76 million active wallets, showing a massive boost in retail trading adoption. The firm also has several institutional clients, according to Macrina, and the growth was also notably fueled by the efficiency of the firm’s brokerage and exchange business.
Blockchain.com is one of the few crypto unicorns as it was valued at $5.2 billion following the $300 million it pulled from investors back in March 2021. Seeing its continuous growth trend, Macrina hinted at the possibility of the firm going public in 2023 in an interview with Forbes.
It is becoming a trend for crypto firms to seek the public market pursuit. While Coinbase pioneered these growth metrics when listed on the Nasdaq exchange back in April, other outfits, including eToro, and Huobi are also notably considering various public entry routes.
@wakgill @cryptorebel_SV @iang_fc It should not have. and did not. Brute force is not scalable. Scalability means less overhead per transaction, and layer2 is vastly more scalable and efficient. Orders of magnitude more. Dont mistake demand for easy fixes from people who misunderstood the fundamental value.
Crypto whale watchers just witnessed the movement of a vast BTC fortune to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. A high-rolling anonymous entity transferred 22,816 BTC worth $386 million for a fee of just $14.83. The transfer was first sighted by the automated distributed ledger tracking tool known as Bitcoin Block Bot. According […]
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