One of PEPE’s early adopters is officially out after making over $1.7 million in profit, translating to a 54,725x gain in less than six months. In a tweet shared by Lookonchain on August 26, the meme coin trader bought 1.69 trillion tokens, spending roughly $36, minutes after the project was launched in late April 2023. However, by the time the trader exited, less than six months later, selling off all his tokens, he had realized a decent gain, raking in 1,001 ETH, or roughly $1.7 million at spot rates. PEPE Whale Exits Trackers reveal that the trader first sold 0.69 trillion before fully exiting and liquidating 1 trillion PEPE on August 26, pocketing $885,000 or 537 ETH, pushing his total haul to 1,001 ETH. Considering the pseudonymous nature of Ethereum from where PEPE started trading through Uniswap v3, the trader’s identity cannot be ascertained. PEPE is one of the more successful meme coin projects in 2023. The token’s meteoritic rise–and crash–over the past couple of months illustrates its volatility. For the project’s early success and popularity, because of traders buying in and aiming to ride the trend mainly because of fear of missing out (FOMO), PEPE ended up being listed on several cryptocurrency exchanges, with support by Binance being the highlight. Less than a week after being listed on Binance, PEPE soared 800% in early May before gradually falling as sentiment turned negative and holders began exiting, taking profits. The token peaked at $0.0000044839 and have since crashed 81% to $0.0000008674 as of August 26. This price level is an important reaction point marking June 2023 lows and is a primary support level. If bears press on, PEPE may fall to retest $0.0000004984, the opening price when the token began trading when it was listed on Binance on May 1. Meme Coin Trending, Team Transfers Tokens While PEPE is a top-trending token on CoinMarketCap, a tracker owned by Binance, at the time of writing August 26, the whale opted to exit via Uniswap v3. Uniswap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) for trading multiple tokens, primarily those on Ethereum. It is the second last iteration of the DEX and uses concentrated liquidity. PEPE is also available on Uniswap v2, but most trading is concentrated on Binance and KuCoin, two of the world’s leading centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. On August 25, the team transferred 16.045 trillion tokens (worth $16.85 million) from their multisig address to four exchanges, including Binance, leaving out only 10.697 trillion PEPE. The transfer also coincided with the multisig parameter changes. Only two signatories will be required to effect a transfer, down from five out of eight.

The restructuring of the corporation will be overseen by the new management. The bulk of the company’s debtors are individual depositors, and are owed roughly $400M. Singaporean cryptocurrency lender Vauld, which has been going through bankruptcy proceedings since August 2022, recently announced that it has been granted permission to reorganize its board. The restructuring of the corporation will be overseen by the new management. Vauld’s co-founder Darshan Bathija announced on Twitter on August 24 that the firm had been successful in having a Singapore court approve their scheme of structure. A new chief executive officer, a creditor representative, and a scheme manager will join the board to implement the strategy. Multiple Extensions Existing clients of the platform will need to resubmit verification papers since Know Your Customer checks have been resumed. Flipvolt Technologies, Vauld’s Indian subsidiary, had $46.4 million in its possession when Indian authorities raided it for money laundering in August 2022. Due to unfavorable market circumstances and a two-week “bank run” that lost $200 million. Vauld stopped client withdrawals in July 2022. The firm blamed losses on its exposure to the collapse of the stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) in May 2022. And the falling values of key cryptocurrencies. A three-month reprieve was given in August 2022 so that it could come up with a strategy for reorganization. The strategy called for the company to be acquired by Swiss cryptocurrency lender Nexo, however talks with Nexo’s office stalled in January of 2023. Moreover, a Singapore court granted Vauld more creditor protection that same month, and in February, that protection was extended. The bulk of the company’s debtors are individual depositors, and they are owed roughly $400 million. Highlighted Crypto News Today: Regulatory Worries Plunge Worldcoin (WLD) Price by 47% in a Month

AVAX, the native currency of the Avalanche blockchain, is trading at new 2023 lows at the time of writing on August 26. Trading at $10, the coin is down 55% from 2023 highs and roughly 25% alone in August 2023. At this pace, AVAX has not only broken mid-June 2023 lows but could break below the critical June 2021 support. AVAX Is Sinking A look at the daily candlestick arrangement in August shows that sellers have been unwavering and firm despite the general optimism amongst supporters. Of note, it is clear that the selling momentum has been strong. AVAX bear bars have been banding along the lower BB, meaning sellers have been unloading faster. At the same time, the divergence of the middle BB from the upper and lower BB suggests that AVAX prices have been volatile. This can be illustrated by the rapid contraction, especially in the second half of August when AVAX has shaved off over 20% of its value. The sell-off also comes amid a drop in trading activity and general liquidity, as volume indicators show in the daily chart. Comparing the current activity with those of early to mid-July 2023, it is evident that trading volumes have rapidly contracted. This drop may point to general apprehension as traders steer clear, considering the recent decline in valuation. Typically, trading volumes are an indicator of interest, and in times of expanding prices, like in early July, AVAX trading volumes rose in tandem. The higher the trading volumes, the more liquid the token is since traders are more engaged and confident of the project’s prospects. Avalanche Vista And New Partnerships AVAX remains under pressure despite Avalanche Foundation partnering with Legitimate Technology, a web3 company, days after the foundation launched the “Avalanche Vista” program. The foundation aims to purchase real-world assets (RWAs) of up to $50 million minted on Avalanche. Following this, Legitimate joined forces with Puma and Roc Nation to bring the worlds of fashion and music on-chain. In partnership, Legitimate has now released the “Evolution of the Mixtape” sneaker collection to celebrate what they say is “hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.” The collection will include three unique sneaker models, each embedded with a near-field communication (NFC) chip for “owners to access a digital portal showcasing weekly mixtapes and behind-the-scenes content from Roc Nation artists.” Each NFC chip is linked to an immutable digital object on Avalanche for easy provenance. All these digitized products can be redeemed through Legitimate’s LGT protocol.

Following its temporary shutdown, Shibarium has made a comeback and relaunched. This release of the layer 2 blockchain has pushed the BONE price upwards, recording new milestones for the token. Shibarium Relaunch Ignites Bullish Trend For BONE Bone Shibaswap (BONE) has recorded a massive price increase of about 17% in the last 24 hours after Shibarium made an official relaunch and became open to the public on Thursday, August 24. The number of BONE addresses has also increased to 90,151 while SHIB burn rates are running high. Currently, the BONE token is valued at $1.40 with a 24-hour trading volume of over $11 million, according to CoinMarketCap. The shift in the price has also proved fortunate for a majority of BONE token holders. Reports reveal that 68% of BONE holders are in a very profitable position and are likely to reap massive gains. In contrast, 19% are currently in the red, struggling with some losses. The remaining 13% of BONE holders have found themselves at a point of stability, experiencing no profits or losses. Shibarium’s Lead Developer, Shytoshi Kusama had previously described plans of adding new features and tweaks to prevent another suspension. He also stated that the Shiba Inu team plans to integrate a Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) into Shibarium. Additionally, he said that the recently launched layer 2 blockchain has finally achieved a state of stability, ensuring users gain all the benefits of the mainnet including more options for BONE staking. “After two days of testing and tweaking parameters to achieve a ‘ready’ state, Shibarium is now enhanced and optimized. Additional validators will go live, giving even more options for you to stake your BONE,” Kusama said. SHIB Community Embraces Shibarium Relaunch And Modifications The SHIB army has been anticipating Shibarium’s release after the Ethereum layer 2 solution got off to a rocky start. The Shibarium mainnet halted its operations after its first launch and has been undergoing reconfigurations and testing to bolster its network. According to developers, the reason for the network’s suspension was due to the high traffic and overwhelming increase in adoption, with over 10 million new wallets registered on the platform. However, Kusama had reassured the SHIB community, stating that the mainnet was only going through a few tweaks and would be up and running soon, stronger than it was in its previous release. Shiba Inu’s price performance also declined slightly following Shibarium’s temporary shutdown. But the cryptocurrency is on a recovery trend presently and growing to be one of the trendiest meme coins in the crypto space. The recent relaunch has pushed active addresses in the Shibarium mainnet to over 50,000 and this figure is expected to continue to rise. Lead developer Kusama has also vowed to increase the layer 2 network’s capacity by 1,500%, improving its safety, decentralization, and solidity. Recently, Shiba Inu has been making new strides in the crypto space, expanding into new geographical regions to facilitate better adoption. The meme coin is now available to Brazilian merchants through Binance Pay, a cryptocurrency payment technology supported by the Binance exchange.

The price of Shiba Inu (SHIB) remains entrenched in the red zone, failing to gain momentum even with the much-anticipated return of the ecosystem’s layer 2 solutions protocol, Shibarium. Led by the renowned developer Shytoshi Kusama, the project encountered a stumbling block when scalability issues prompted the temporary suspension of the mainnet, dampening investor sentiment and impacting SHIB’s value. Unfortunately, the botched launch left its mark on SHIB’s price, contributing to a 4.9% drop over the course of a week. Despite this setback, there is a glimmer of hope evident in the coin’s minor recovery over the last 24 hours. SHIB managed to regain a 1.6% increase in value, trading at approximately $0.00000819 according to CoinGecko data. Nevertheless, this upturn remains overshadowed by the broader bearish sentiment that has enveloped the crypto market in recent days. SHIB Resistance Level And Price Analysis The current price level of SHIB holds paramount significance as it corresponds to a pivotal resistance point with a historical record of playing dual roles as both a support and a barrier. Delving into a price analysis reveals a repeated testing of this level, underscoring its importance. A decisive breach above or below this threshold could potentially herald the forthcoming trend direction for SHIB. Should SHIB muster the strength to overcome this resistance with notable trading volume, it might act as a catalyst for a fresh bullish surge. Traders and investors could interpret this breakthrough as a testament to the coin’s resilience, possibly fueling an increase in buying pressure. In such a scenario, the subsequent resistance levels to monitor would be the recent highs. Conversely, if SHIB falters in its ascent and encounters rejection, a further downward slide could ensue. Shibarium’s Trials And Triumphs In the midst of these price fluctuations, the development team has shed light on the challenges faced by Shibarium during its recent launch. Kusama clarified that the issues primarily arose from an unexpected deluge of transactions and users coinciding with the protocol’s announcement. He also vehemently denied rumors of any bridge-related problems, assuring the safety of investor funds. In the aftermath of the relaunch, Shibarium is demonstrating marked improvement. Block times have been trimmed to a mere five seconds, accompanied by a surge in processed transactions, surpassing the 100,000 mark. Moreover, the project’s user base is expanding, with wallets approaching 45,000, indicating a growing interest in the platform’s capabilities. SHIB’s journey has been one marked by resilience and challenges, with the reintroduction of Shibarium poised as a turning point. As the coin grapples with a defining resistance level, market participants remain keenly observant, awaiting cues to decipher its potential trajectory. (This site’s content should not be construed as investment advice. Investing involves risk. When you invest, your capital is subject to risk). Featured image from Getty Images

Ethereum Layer 2 network “Base” has surpassed Cardano in terms of Total Value Locked (TVL) in just two weeks after its official launch, despite Cardano experiencing a multi-year head start in growth and development. Base TVL And Trading Volume Rises Above Cardano Presently, Cardano is facing criticism from users due to its TVL falling below that of the newly launched project “Base” built by Coinbase. One individual who has publicly criticized the project is Evan Van Ness, a Consensys member and Ethereum advocate. Van Ness took to his X (formerly Twitter) account which boasts over 103,000 followers to call Cardano a “Zombie chain” because it was below Base by TVL despite being years ahead of the latter. Base was launched on August 9 and it has experienced impressive growth and momentum since it was introduced to the public. According to Data from DeFillama, the layer 2 network Base recorded a higher trading volume ($26.23 million) than that of the layer 1 network Cardano ($20 million) in less than 24 hours after its official launch. In terms of TVL, at the time Van Ness’s chart was shared on X, Base had managed to secure $188 million in TVL since it was introduced, surpassing Cardano which sat at the 14th position by TVL with $160 million. However, these figures have since been flipped especially since ADA is seeing a green day on Saturday. DefiLlama data currently shows a TVL of $188.46 million for Cardano versus $185.53 million for Base. Nevertheless, data from L2beat points Base’s rise in TVL over the past week puts it ahead of StarkNet and others which made it the fifth largest layer-2 network. Base TVL is, however, not the only impressive thing about the L2, as the network has outperformed Cardano by completing more transactions in its first week than Cardano’s transactions in a month. Although Base’s TPS may be lower than that of other layer 2 networks like Optimism (OP), investors and market observers believe that the network will experience more adoption as its ecosystem grows. Rising Average Transactions Per Second Base has recorded over 11 million transactions in less than a month since its official launch. Base’s average transactions per second over the past few days has been reported to be 15.88, surpassing other layer 2 blockchain Abritrum (AB) and Optimism (OP). The network’s 15.88 also shows an increase of almost 160% in daily Transactions Per Second (TPS). Base’s TPS rise was no coincidence as more investors engage in Base’s Friend.tech. Friend.tech is a social market that allows users to buy and sell shares in public figures. It has reportedly garnered more than 100,000 users since its release. Other protocols such as Synthenix have also shown interest in the Base network, as the protocol recently concluded a governance vote to deploy on Base. Another development is the on-chain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence announcing on X earlier in the week that it will be adding support for Base.

Magnate Finance, a DeFi lending protocol on the Ethereum layer-2 network Base, is reported to have conducted a rug pull, robbing its users of $6.4 million worth of assets. This event represents the latest troubling incident on the Base network in merely a month of its official mainnet launch. 3 Rug Pulls, $16.7 Million Lost – Who’s Responsible? On Friday, August 25, blockchain security intelligence Peckshield confirmed Magnate Finance’s rug pull, stating that the project developers manipulated the provider of the price oracle, allowing them to withdraw all assets of the platform. Peckshield also provided more information on the scammers’ movement, stating that they had transferred $1.34 worth of DAI to a new address while also bridging $1 million of the loot to the BNB chain. The majority of the stolen funds have been transferred to other Ethereum layer 2 solutions such as Optimism and Arbitrum. Meanwhile, the $1.3 million DAI and an additional 295 ETH, valued at around $486,000, remain on the Base Network. Interestingly, a few hours before the Magnate Finance rug pull occurred, an X user and on-chain investigator, ZachXBT, posted a community alert stating the possibility of such an event. ZachXBT’s suspicion was based on the fact that the deployer address of Magnate Finance received some funds from the Solifire’s $4.8 million rug pull that occurred in January 2022. In addition, the deployer address of Magnate Finance is also linked to the Kokomo Finance $5.5 million exit scam in March 2023. In total, the developers of the Base DeFi lending protocol have been involved in three rug pulls that have resulted in the loss of $16.7 million of user funds. At the time of writing, Magnate Finance has deleted its Telegram group, as well as disabled its official website. In addition, the project’s X account has also been deactivated, wiping all of its online and social media presence in what has been a “classic rug pull.” Another Setback For Base? The early days of the Base Network in the crypto space have been anything but smooth sailing. Prior to the network’s public launch on August 9, BALD, a memecoin project on the Coinbase native network, was exposed as a rug pull after developers withdrew $25.6 million of the project’s liquidity. Since then, there have been more negative occurrences within the Base ecosystem, with the Rocketswap DEX losing over $450,000 via “brute force hack,” while 342 ETH, valued at $626,000, has also been stolen from LeetSwap, another Base-native DEX. However, it is worth stating that the Base Network has also recorded some positives in its short time of operation. According to data from L2Beat data, Base ranks as the fourth most active layer two solution with a daily transaction per second value of 7.73. In addition, where the general total DeFi ecosystem has taken a dive below the $40 billion mark, Base has shown much resilience. Using data from DefiiLama, the project’s TVL gained by 11.02% in the last week and is now valued at $185.81 million.

Alexey Pertsev, another Tornado Cash developer, was detained by Dutch police a year ago. Brian Klein, Storm’s attorney, announced his client’s release from jail on Twitter. According to his attorney, Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, was freed on bond shortly after his detention by the U.S DOJ on August 23 on money-laundering and other charges. On August 24, Brian Klein, Storm’s attorney, announced his client’s release from jail on Twitter. According to Klein, he is “very disappointed” that the developer was penalized just for his involvement in the software development process. The U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Storm’s arrest and accusations against him and Roman Semenov, the other co-founder of Tornado Cash, on August 23; bail was granted the following day. Money Laundering Charges Moreover, the United States authority has accused the creators of Tornado Cash of being involved in the laundering of over a billion dollars’ worth of “criminal proceeds.” Additional charges include conspiracy to violate sanctions and conduct money transmission activities without a proper license. This newest development follows the addition of Tornado Cash-related addresses on the OFAC list of Specially Designated Nationals by the United States Treasury Department around a year ago. Thereafter, Alexey Pertsev, another Tornado Cash developer, was detained by Dutch police. After spending over nine months behind bars, the programmer was finally freed from prison in April 2023. To the tune of $2 billion in stolen cryptocurrency in 2022, digital asset research company Chainalysis said in early 2023 that it had traced the thefts back to cybercrime organizations in North Korea. According to the report, these groups use Tornado Cash almost exclusively to launder their illicit proceeds. Highlighted Crypto News Today: Regulatory Worries Plunge Worldcoin (WLD) Price by 47% in a Month

A massive 30,000 BTC was transferred into unknown wallets over the past week, leading many investors to wonder about the current outlook concerning Bitcoin. When big money moves into cold storage, it reduces selling pressure because it often indicates that whales and institutional investors are expecting the price to go up and opting for self-custody. Massive Exodus Of BTC To Cold Storage Data from CoinGlass shows that almost 30,000 BTC have been moved off exchanges in the past week. With Bitcoin currently trading around $26,000, this equates to over $780 million moved into cold storage. Most of this movement has come from Binance, with an 11,457 BTC net change in its reserves. Coinbase, Bitfinex, and Gemini also witnessed a net exodus of 4,455 BTC, 2,808 BTC, and 6,004 BTC, respectively. In contrast to this, the crypto exchange OKX had 2,149 BTC moved into its exchange. On-chain whale movement alerts from Whale Alerts this week have also shown various instances of BTC movement off crypto exchanges into unknown wallets: Unknown wallets typically mean movement into cold storage, which refers to any method of storing crypto offline. Investors use cold wallets to hold Bitcoin long-term as a way to accumulate their assets. For many long-term holders, this is a safer option than keeping large amounts of crypto on an exchange which could be at higher risk of hacks or scams. How Is This Bullish For The Price Of Bitcoin? Bitcoin into cold storage points to a bullish outlook from serious investors. It reduces selling pressure since the amount of BTC available for sale on exchanges has become smaller. According to the economic principles of supply and demand, the lower supply is poised to lead to higher prices. While it’s not entirely clear what is causing this transition, the timing of this movement to cold storage is also notable. The SEC’s decision on spot Bitcoin ETF applications is imminent, and many believe that approval would lead to a spike in the price of Bitcoin. However, the regulator can still delay the applications for up to 240 days. The price of Bitcoin has gone through a considerable dip in the past month as the market reacted to various news. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading at $26,000 and is down by 11.83% in the past month but up by 0.42% in a 7-day timeframe. This would suggest that the movement into cold storage has not had a significant effect, as the price of Bitcoin is still struggling to recover.

WLD is now trading at $1.27 and is down 4.27% in the last 24 hours. The value of its WLD token has fallen as a result of the increased scrutiny from regulators. Around 47% of Worldcoin’s (WLD) price has been wiped out in the last 30 days due to regulatory worries. Data from CMC shows that the price is now trading at $1.27 and is down 4.27% in the last 24 hours. Since the introduction of Worldcoin, authorities from all around the globe have voiced worries about the security of users’ personal information. Source: CoinMarketCap Santiment, an on-chain data aggregator, reports that WLD’s social volume and social dominance have decreased by 95% and 74%, respectively, during the previous 30 days. This points to a significant decline in interest. Increased Regulatory Scrutiny According to a statement issued on July 31 by the U.K’s Information Commissioner’s Office, regional authorities plan to look into Worldcoin due to data privacy concerns. The Kenyan government stated on Facebook on August 2 that Worldcoin will be temporarily shut down while the government conducts a risk evaluation. The value of its WLD token has fallen as a result of the increased scrutiny from regulators. The token’s social activity has decreased dramatically over the last month, implying that its popularity has drastically declined. As concerns about regulations have grown, so has the everyday need for WLD. There has been a consistent declining trend in the daily count of addresses generated to trade WLD since July 26th, dropping by 98%. Highlighted Crypto News Today: Indian Exchange WazirX Halts INR Withdrawals

Solana (SOL) has captured the attention of investors and analysts as its price charts form a distinctive falling wedge pattern. This technical formation, often seen as a potential trend reversal indicator, has stirred discussions about the future trajectory of SOL’s value. A falling wedge pattern is a common chart pattern in technical analysis, characterized by a contracting range between two trendlines that slope in the same direction. The upper trendline, representing the declining highs, converges with the lower trendline, formed by the decreasing lows. This pattern suggests a potential bullish reversal, as the price reaches a point of consolidation, leading to an eventual breakout to the upside. Solana Vies For Bullish Upswing As SOL’s price continues to exhibit this falling wedge pattern, analysts are eyeing a potential bullish upswing in the near future. The recent retest of the lower trendline has intensified demand pressures, potentially setting the stage for a breakout. Price analysis projections point towards a potential recovery that could take SOL’s value towards the overhead trendline or even the $21.55 mark. However, the validity of this pattern relies on the integrity of the two trendlines. While the falling wedge pattern suggests a bullish outlook, a failure to maintain these trendlines could lead to further downward movement. Investors and traders remain cautious, recognizing that as long as the pattern holds, there is a risk of SOL’s value prolonging its descent and potentially reaching the $16 mark. Recent market data from CoinGecko paints a mixed picture, with SOL’s price at $20.32, reflecting a 2.8% decline over the last 24 hours and a 5.2% slump over the past seven days. These fluctuations highlight the inherent volatility in the cryptocurrency market and the impact of various factors on asset prices. Solana’s NFT Surge Offers Glimmer Of Positivity Amidst the price struggles, the Solana ecosystem is experiencing a surge in the NFT space, offering a glimmer of positivity for the community. Recent data shared by Step Data Insights reveals that Solana has emerged as a frontrunner in NFT sales volume over the last 24 hours. The post highlights a remarkable 20% surge in sales volume for Solana, outperforming major competitor Ethereum (ETH), which only managed a 3.4% increase during the same period. While technical patterns provide insights, the volatile nature of the crypto market requires cautious optimism. Additionally, Solana’s robust performance in the NFT sector underscores its ability to diversify and adapt in the blockchain landscape. As traders and investors await confirmation of the falling wedge’s influence, the market remains poised for shifts that could shape SOL’s path in the coming days. (This site’s content should not be construed as investment advice. Investing involves risk. When you invest, your capital is subject to risk). Featured image from CoinMarketCap

The world of digital currency has brought some challenges to the Shiba Inu (SHIB) ecosystem. The ups and downs in this digital money landscape have caused the value of many coins connected to SHIB to drop, making things a bit shaky. But here’s something good: the SHIB token burn is happening faster than before. This means they’re getting rid of more tokens, which is a positive thing. It’s like a bright spot in the midst of all these changes, showing that there’s something strong and good still happening in the SHIB world. Based on the data provided by the Shibburn explorer, it is evident that the SHIB community has been effectively engaging in the process of burning substantial quantities of these meme coins, thereby transferring them to wallets that are rendered unspendable. Shiba Inu: Optimism Amid Market Volatility Even though the SHIB token has had some failures and its price has gone down, its burn rate has gone up by about 80% in the last 24 hours, according to Shibburn. Today, the SHIB army has successfully facilitated the removal of around 350 million Shiba Inu meme coins, which were previously rendered inaccessible and excluded from circulation. Last week, over 1.84 billion SHIB tokens were burned in approximately 255 transitions, according to Shibburn. This reduced the weekly SHIB consumption rate by 38.76%. It took 19 transfers for the community to successfully remove 349,012,147 SHIB during the course of the last 24 hours. Burns frequently involved two or three SHIB pieces and occurred virtually hourly. Increasing Scarcity And Value Burning tokens, or reducing the supply of a cryptocurrency, is a common practice in the blockchain and crypto communities. As the number of coins in circulation increases, both their demand and value tend to decrease. This activity is considered a deliberate method to increasing scarcity, which may lead to an increase in the value of the remaining tokens. This strategy is especially significant for Shiba Inu because of their abundant starting supply. Meanwhile, as the Shibarium relaunch draws near, Lucie, a Shiba Inu team representative, has revealed some exciting news. Lucie updates her followers on the status of Shibarium in a new tweet, letting them know that Shiba Inu Layer 2 is now operational and functioning well in private mode. The enormous flood of users forced Shibarium to suspend soon after its launch on August 16. The group got to work right away scaling its operations and starting network deep testing. At the time of writing, SHIB was trading at $0.00000818, down 1.4% in the last 24 hours and sustaining a 3.8% loss in the last seven days, data from crypto market tracker Coingecko shows. (This site’s content should not be construed as investment advice. Investing involves risk. When you invest, your capital is subject to risk). Featured image from Gothamist

Crypto blockchains are designed to be fully decentralized so that no single person or group has control. However, new data has shown that the top 10 Ethereum addresses control over 35% of the total ETH supply. For a network that was designed to be decentralized, this has sparked some serious concerns over how centralized ETH has become. The 10 Largest Ethereum Addresses Hold Over 35% Of The Available Supply While sharing the metric on social media platform X, crypto market intelligence platform Santiment showed how holdings of the 10 largest Ethereum addresses have now climbed to 35% of the total supply. This indicates that while small traders have been trying to offload their supply during the recent price crash, many ETH whales are taking the chance to buy the dip. Over the past 5 years, the top 10 largest Ethereum addresses have seen their share of the total ETH supply grow substantially. Data shows that these addresses held only 11.2% of the total supply in August 2018, and then rose to 24% in August 2022. The current level means these 10 largest holders have accumulated 11% more in the past year. Etherscan, an Ethereum block explorer, shows the top account balances in ETH, with the largest address alone (Beacon Deposit Contract) controlling over 24% of all supply. Next comes in Wrapped Ether at 2.7%. However, most of the largest ETH holders are cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Kraken. One of Binance’s wallets (Binance 7) holds over 1.66%, while the exchange also holds large ETH amounts in other wallets, making it the largest of any single entity. In comparison, the top 10 addresses of Bitcoin, the largest crypto in the world, own only 5.35% of the total supply. This, of course, does not take into account Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin cache. ETH Centralization Concerns? Whales are known to have considerable control over the price movement of cryptocurrencies in the crypto market and large selloffs by these holders can lead to an increase in selling pressure from smaller investors, causing a dump in the price of ETH. However, considering the largest holder is the Ethereum is the Beacon Deposit Contract used for staking ETH, an increase in the contract spells positive news. More deposits into the contract signal that more investors are depositing to become validators in ETH 2.0. Interestingly, the number of wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 ETH has risen to 355,000, and 1,788 more 10-10,000 ETH wallets have been added since the beginning of June. Whale transactions in the past week alone have also crossed 23,073 ETH, the highest since May. As for ETH’s price, the token is currently trading at around $1,600, down 11% in the past month.

Pepe’s multisig wallet hacked; 16T tokens ($15M) sold. Discord within team, leaving lone member in charge. In an unexpected turn of events on August 24th, 2023, the infamous memecoin Pepe community was rattled by a series of transactions involving the project’s multisig wallet. Approximately 16 trillion PEPE tokens, valued at around 15 million USD. They were transferred from the wallet to multiple crypto exchanges, including OKX, Binance, Kucoin, and Bybit. The shocking move significantly reduced the required signer count to 2 out of 8 wallets. It left the multisig with 10 trillion tokens and a solitary signer. In a bid to provide clarity to the community, an anonymous founding member came forward to share their perspective on the situation. According to their account, the project had been plagued by internal strife from its inception, characterized by clashes among team members driven by greed. Meanwhile, the project’s multisig wallet, crafted to mandate approval from 3 out of 4 signers for transactions, took center stage in the controversy. The founding member asserted that the three ex-team members, previously disconnected from the project, abruptly resurfaced. Allegedly, they illicitly accessed the multisig, absconding with 16 trillion tokens—equivalent to 60% of the total—before proceeding to offload them on exchanges. What Lies Ahead? Expressing shock at the developments, the remaining founding member issued an apology to the community for the uncertainty caused. And assured the community that control over the official Pepe twitter account. And the remaining 10 trillion tokens remained secure and protected from the ex-team members. Furthermore, they disclosed their intention to transfer the remaining tokens to a new wallet while awaiting a definitive resolution. Additionally, they suggested the prospect of burning tokens upon finalizing pending acquisitions or donations. However, The response from the community varied. With some expressing optimism about the announcement expecting a bull rally. And others raised skepticism and questioned the credibility of the provided information. Finally after the announcement PEPE saw a mild surge of 1.16% in 24 hours. It rebounded from its consequent 16% percent dump cause of the allegations and now the price stands at $0.0000008971.

WazirX has partnered with an alternative payment service provider. The crypto exchange didn’t provide any ETA on the resumption of INR withdrawals. WazirX, the Indian crypto exchange, has temporarily halted fiat withdrawals from its trading platforms. Indian crypto users have not been able to withdraw Indian rupees (INR) for over 24 hours. The suspension is due to complications with the crypto exchange’s payment provider. According to the withdrawal page on the trading platform WazirX, INR withdrawals are temporarily paused due to maintenance at their payment partner bank. Moreover, the crypto exchange mentioned that the team is working to resolve the issue and has partnered with an alternative payment service provider. WazirX is Working on Resolving the Issue Adding to that, the crypto exchange didn’t provide any ETA on the resumption of INR withdrawals on the platform. Moreover, the crypto exchange announced to its users that the alternative payment service provider had enabled a 10% initial rollout. The exchange added that the team is working on resolving the issue and resuming the withdrawals. However, the WazirX team refused to provide an ETA. According to the report, users can still use the P2P option to sell their crypto assets to other users on the crypto exchange. The crypto exchange states that it will roll out the INR withdrawal option for every user within a couple of days. This abrupt suspension has ignited concerns and speculation within the Indian crypto community. WazirX got into legal issues earlier this month when the Indian operator of the cryptocurrency exchange received a show-cause notice from the Enforcement Directorate of India. The Foreign Exchange Management Act was used to issue the notice in connection with a $32.7 million money laundering scheme. At the time of writing, WazirX’s native token, WRX, is trading at $0.1045, with an increase of over 0.52% in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, the daily trading volume of WRX has experienced a massive surge of over 625.15%, according to CoinMarketCap.

Coinbase has recently announced it would be adding support for PayPal’s stablecoin. Less than 50,000 coins are represented in pools on decentralized exchanges. On-chain data shows that the newly launched PYUSD stablecoin is struggling to acquire adoption. Nansen, a blockchain analytics company, estimates that around 90% of PYUSD is kept in the wallets of stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust at the present time. The research claims that Kraken, Gate.io, and Crypto.com wallets have a combined total of approximately 7% of the entire supply. Acceptance among smart money investors, a phrase for sophisticated or professional investors, is low. Long Way to Go The cryptocurrency industry was prepared for PayPal’s stablecoin launch in early August. Stablecoins were expected to increase cryptocurrency acceptance and promote them to a wider audience. In spite of the financial behemoth’s 350 million users throughout the globe, only a small percentage have actually utilized or held its stablecoin in self-custody wallets so far. Less than 50,000 coins are represented in pools on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap’s PYUSD/wETH and PYUSD/USDC. There seems to be a minimal degree of interest, since the biggest holder who is not an exchange or contract has less than $10k worth of PYUSD, according to an examination of the top individual holders. Furthermore, less than ten holders (not including contracts or exchanges) are shown to have a balance of $1,000 or more. PYUSD has just been in circulation for a little over three weeks, therefore the adoption rate is understandably low. There was no notification of its impending release before it went live. On the other hand, providing a major boost, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced it would be adding support for PayPal’s stablecoin, PYUSD. With this move, a second major U.S.-based exchange has adopted the cryptocurrency in the span of a week. Highlighted Crypto News Today: PEPE Team Addresses 10 Trillion Fund Transfer And Recent Dump

Bitcoin (BTC) price stays in the $26K range. Certain altcoins like XRP, SHIB, and LTC have exhibited gradual positive price momentum. In the aftermath of last week’s sell-off, the global crypto market has been struggling to regain its footing. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, plummeted from $29,000 to a two-month low of $25,800 in just one day. Despite its attempt to recover, the value of Bitcoin has remained relatively flat, hovering around the $26,000 mark. While the bleeding seems to have subsided for many altcoins, the overall recovery of most assets has been dull following the sharp decline on August 17th. Amidst this decline in the larger cryptocurrency market, some altcoins are showing glimmers of positive momentum in their price action. Notably, XRP, SHIB, and LTC have managed to gradually increase by around 2% over the past 24 hours. The resilience of these select altcoins and their ability to maintain upward momentum could potentially indicate a broader shift in sentiment within the crypto space. MVRV Divergence Chart (Source: Twitter) Still, according to market data provider Santiment, the average mid-term returns favoured by traders consistently indicate that a majority of assets are currently experiencing underbought conditions. The divergence between the MVRV opportunity and danger zones is becoming evident. Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) is a metric comparing a cryptocurrency’s current market cap to its historical average value, helping assess overvaluation or undervaluation.

The price has been consolidating in a tight range, suggesting a large forthcoming move. A major decline is likely if price breaches the crucial support level around $1550. As the bulls and bears continue their fight, the ETH price has been under intense selling pressure. On the other side, there are hints of new developments in network activity data. Santiment, a data analytics platform, highlighted a critical aspect of growing centralization: the abandonment of retail traders in the face of a significant market downturn. Over 35% of all Ethereum in circulation is controlled by the top 10 wallet addresses, according to the analytics platform. And in the midst of this very unstable period, whales have been particularly active. Around 21,299 Ether worth approx. $35M was transferred from an anonymous wallet to crypto exchange Coinbase. This might be the beginning of a sell-off that precedes a downturn. High Volatility Expected Since such a large quantity has the potential to significantly alter the liquidity of ETH, it may have an effect on the short term trend. CMC reports that the current price of ETH is $1,648, representing a decrease of 0.88% over the last 24 hours. Source: CoinMarketCap The price has been consolidating in a tight range, suggesting a large forthcoming move in either direction, but has been unable to break through the $1700 resistance level. The ETH price has maintained stability around the $1650 mark so far. But it’s still trading under the 100-hour simple moving average. The next level of resistance is located around the $1800 mark, which might be reached by a price rise if the $1700 level is broken. However, a major decline is likely if price breaches the crucial support level around $1600, and this decline might extend all the way to the $1500 level.

XRP is down 27% in the past month. Transfer of $15M worth XRP spark supply concerns of potential selling. In the current landscape, top cryptocurrencies , Bitcoin and Ethereum find themselves entrenched in a challenging period marked by a prevailing bearish trend. This trend has also cast a shadow over XRP, a prominent altcoin, as it contends with its own bout of bearish pressure. Despite clinching a legal victory against the SEC and witnessing a price surge to $0.8875—a peak not reached in over a year—the aftermath has been tumultuous, characterized by sharp bouts of volatility. Over the past month, XRP bears have maintained a position of influence. Adding to it, an unexpected move by a significant XRP investor has sent shockwaves through the community. This investor’s decision to transfer a substantial amount of 29.3 million XRP, valued at $15.13 million to Bitstamp, a cryptocurrency exchange has raised concerns about potential supply increase and resulting in selling pressure. In the current scenario, XRP is striving to bounce back from its support level at $0.5. Nonetheless, the specter of a significant downturn looms large if traders and prominent holders opt to liquidate their holdings. Meanwhile, the next trial between Ripple and the SEC is on the horizon which is expected to unfold around the conclusion of the previous verdict. This timeline aligns with notifications from both the SEC and Ripple Labs, including statements from CEO Brad Garlinghouse and executive chairman Chris Larsen, who have cited their unavailability during the second quarter of 2024. While this news triggered a slight rebound for XRP, the subsequent bullish momentum proved challenging to sustain. Will The Bulls Take Over? At present, XRP is valued at $0.5209, reflecting a modest uptick of 1.12% in the last 24 hours. This represents a significant 86.42% decrease from its all-time high set six years ago. A closer examination of the daily chart reveals a phase of consolidation, with bears seemingly exerting greater influence. The daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) teeters on the edge of oversold territory. It registers 34 and the trading volume is up 9.99% in the past 24h. XRP Price Chart, Source: TradingView In the near term, the 9-day exponential moving average (EMA) is positioned at $0.5336. The bears might try to push the price below $0.50. If they manage to do that, the price of XRP could head down even further to a bigger support level at $0.41. But many expect that people will want to buy XRP at that level, which might stop the price from falling too much. On a more positive note, if the bulls manage to raise the price above the 20-day EMA, which is at $0.56, it could show that the bears are losing their control. This might lead to a short-term price increase, potentially up to the 50-day SMA, which is at $0.63. Will XRP Break its Bearish Momentum? Share your thoughts by tweeting us at @The_NewsCrypto

The top 10 addresses control more than 35% of the total ETH supply. Smaller traders sell amid FUD, while larger players accumulate. Ethereum (ETH), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, has witnessed significant developments within its network. Despite trading around the $1,650 mark, the network’s activity has been capturing attention. Notably, as the market witnessed a crash, a fascinating trend emerged. While small traders sought to offload their holdings, prominent players in the field were seen accumulating ETH. This accumulation has resulted in an increased concentration of ETH supply, with the top 10 addresses now controlling over 35% of the total supply. On-chain data provider Santiment explains that the heightened concentration of supply does not indicate a shift to centralization. Instead, it highlights how smaller traders have responded to market uncertainty and fear during this period of market dip. Further analysis of the Ethereum network reveals an uptick in whale transactions over the past three months. Starting from June, more than 1788 wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 ETH have joined the ranks of larger holders. The number of wallets within this range has bounced back to 355,000. Moreover, transactions involving sums exceeding $100,000 have also witnessed a significant surge. Moreover, despite a major correction witnessed in the preceding week, Ethereum has managed to maintain its position above the $1,650 level. Will the ETH network’s activity reflect on its trading price and gain momentum? Share your thoughts by tweeting us at @The_NewsCrypto