Crypto Payments Platform Wyre Lifts 90% Withdrawal Cap
Crypto payment platform Wyre has lifted the 90% withdrawal limit it placed on its users earlier this week after securing additional funding. On Jan. 13, the San Francisco-based fintech firm announced that it had received financing from a “strategic partner” that allows it to continue the normal course of operations, including re-accepting deposits again. “As a regulated financial institution, we’re proud that we were able to continue delivering our services in a safe and sound manner without pausing withdrawals” it added. (Cointelegraph)
Crypto Miners Log Double-digit Stock Price Gains After CPI Report
A number of crypto stocks booked massive — and elusive of late — gains in Thursday’s trading session, with crypto miners Hive Blockchain and Marathon Digital among those that skyrocketed amid signs of slowing inflation and a subsequent boost for bitcoin. The share price gains across the sector followed Thursday’s US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which showed that core inflation rose 5.7% in December from a year earlier, marking another indicator of slowing or reversing inflation. November inflation’s metric had risen 6% year-over-year. In the hours after the report, crypto companies notched big stock price boosts. The pops in individual digital asset-related equities mirrored a rise in token prices, as bitcoin and ether were up 8% and 6.4% in the past 24 hours, respectively, through Thursday’s close in New York. (Blockworks)
Silvergate Writedown Casts Doubt on Future of Meta’s Failed Stablecoin Project
Crypto banking group Silvergate Capital further cooled its stablecoin ambitions last week, slashing the value of assets that it purchased from a defunct Facebook crypto project. Silvergate disclosed that it took a $196 million impairment charge during its final fiscal quarter last year, writing down the value of intellectual property and technology it acquired from Diem Group early last year. The revised figure represents a 98% loss compared to the $200 million it paid for the assets. Silvergate had planned to launch a stablecoin using the assets last year, announcing plans to do so in its third fiscal quarter of 2021. (decrypt)
Polygon Proposes Hard Fork to Reduce Reorgs, Gas Spikes
After a heated community debate last month, Polygon Labs appears to be moving forward with plans to hard-fork the network early next week, according to a blog post published on Polygon’s website Thursday. In the post, Polygon Labs claims the hard fork—proposed to occur January 17—will help prevent network gas fee spikes and address chain reorganizations, also known as reorgs. Unlike soft forks, hard forks are not backwards-compatible and require all node operators on the network to update to the latest software at a specified time. Some hard forks are contentious, while others are simply major upgrades to a network. (decrypt)
Markets: Bitcoin, Ether Prices Jump as U.S. Indicator Shows Inflation Pressure is Easing
Bitcoin and Ether prices jumped in Friday morning trading in Asia after the December U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) released overnight rose 6.5% year-on-year, which was in line with expectations and lower than inflation readings in previous months. All other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies rose. The total crypto market capitalization increased 4.78% to US$906.87 billion, while trading volume surged 91.6% to US$66.17 billion. (forkast)
Major Media Outlets Demand Identities of SBF's $250M Bond Guarantors
Eight major media companies including Bloomberg, The Financial Times and Reuters have demanded public disclosure of the two individuals responsible for guaranteeing FTX former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's $250 million bond. In a Jan. 12 letter addressed to New York District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, attorneys from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP — acting on behalf of the media giants — argued that “the public’s right to know Bankman-Fried's guarantors outweighed their privacy and safety rights.” Media organizations looking to persuade the judge to unseal the identities of Bankman-Fried's guarantors include the Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, Dow Jones, The Financial Times, Insider and the Washington Post. (Cointelegraph)
WEF Global Risks Report Flags Crypto Asset Bubble as 'Polycrisis' Looms
The World Economic Forum's annual Global Risks Report flagged the bursting of “asset bubbles” including cryptocurrency as one of the top risks likely to affect countries as a “polycrisis” looms.
Gitcoin Announces Gitcoin Alpha Round That Supports 3 Rounds & $1M Total Matching Pool
Gitcoin has announced Gitcoin Alpha Round with categories, namely Ethereum Infrastructure, Open Source, and Climate Solutions. The aim of the Quadratic Funding round is to support 200 grantees with a matching pool of $1 million. It will commence on January 17, 2023, and end on January 31, 2023.
What Is Fibonacci Retracement? How to Use It in Crypto Trading
Fibonacci retracement is a mathematical formula that is applied to the price of an asset to produce future price levels that the market is expected to react to.
NEXO Bulgarian Offices Reportedly Raided by Authorities
The Bulgarian offices of the popular cryptocurrency lending platform Nexo are being raided by authorities, according to major local media.
