Author: Max Bauer

Vega Protocol has put forth a governance proposal that would effectively shut down their existing blockchain, retire their native VEGA token, and replace it with a new token that would dilute existing holders by a factor of 5x. The proposal, outlined in a recent blog post and now up for a governance vote, aims to suspend trading, redistribute the on-chain treasury to stakers, and incentivize validators to keep the network running for a two-month period to allow users to withdraw their funds from the decentralized exchange (DEX). After this grace period, the future of the alpha mainnet would be uncertain,…

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, suffered its largest monthly drop in over two years during August, driven by weak ETF demand and growing technical concerns. Quinn Thompson, founder of crypto hedge fund Lekker Capital, noted that “the marginal new buyer doesn’t see value at current prices.” The recently launched Ethereum ETFs have failed to meet expectations, experiencing $477 million in outflows in their first 29 days of trading, compared to the $5.1 billion inflow for Bitcoin ETFs in the same period. This lack of institutional interest, combined with declining network fees due to the rise of layer 2 blockchains, has contributed…

Cryptocurrency analysis firm QCP has released a statement outlining their expectations for the Bitcoin market in September, emphasizing the historically bearish nature of the month. According to their analysis, six of the last seven Septembers have seen negative returns for Bitcoin, with an average decline of 4.5%. If this trend continues, Bitcoin’s price could potentially drop to around $55,000. QCP also noted that Bitcoin concluded August with a decline of 8.6%, unable to recover above $65,000 after the ‘BOJ crash’ at the start of the month. Ethereum fared even worse, dropping by 22.2% in August, allegedly due to selling by…

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has signaled a potential shift in the taxation of virtual currencies. In its recently released tax reform requests for fiscal year 2025, the FSA suggested that virtual currency transactions should be evaluated to determine whether they should be classified as financial assets for investment purposes. This move comes amid increasing calls from industry groups and investors for a revamp of the current tax system for virtual currencies, which imposes a hefty maximum tax rate of 55% on profits classified as miscellaneous income. Advocates have been pushing for a separate, flat self-assessment tax rate of 20%…

ForexLive analyst Giuseppe Dellamotta highlights the recent weakness in risk assets, attributing it to the weak U.S. nonfarm payrolls release. With the JOLTS job opening data, ISM services PMI, ADP and weekly jobless claims due this week, followed by the August nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, the market’s attention is firmly on U.S. economic indicators. Analysts at ING suggest that if the consensus for Friday’s jobs report proves accurate, market expectations will solidify around a 25 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve on September 18th. However, ING’s U.S. economists predict a weaker jobs report, potentially leading to a…

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has cautioned FTX against repaying creditors in stablecoins or other crypto assets, potentially challenging the legality of such transactions. The warning comes amidst various proposals for maximizing creditor recovery during the FTX bankruptcy proceedings, including relaunching the exchange and distributing tokenized claims. While some decentralized marketplaces have even started supporting tokenized FTX claims trading, FTX’s current plan is to reimburse creditors in cash or U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. However, the SEC’s recent filing emphasizes its right to contest transactions involving crypto assets, particularly “crypto asset securities.” The SEC also raised concerns about the lack of…

Cryptocurrency analyst CryptoCon recently warned investors not to be distracted by current market events, stating that Bitcoin’s current “boring” price action is typical of the end of a Blue Year, the preparatory phase before the Red Year, known for achieving all-time highs (ATHs). CryptoCon draws parallels between the current market conditions and those observed in August 2012, 2016, and 2020. Based on this observation, the analyst has revised the conservative range for Bitcoin’s cycle top from $90k-$130k to $110k-$160k. The analyst points out that the current BTC correction has reached the same Envelope Strength levels as the bottom from the…

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of the Cardano blockchain, has announced plans to create a decentralised social media platform in Brazil after the country’s Supreme Court banned Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter). Hoskinson stated in a post on X, “While Brazil has silenced our brothers and sisters on X, their work will still stand and matter to us all. I cannot wait to recruit many Brazilians to help us build a decentralised social network.” Brazil, Latin America’s largest nation, has become another battleground in the global debate over online free speech regulation, as X began to go offline over the weekend.…

A new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University reveals that cryptocurrency holders are more inclined to support Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. presidential election than Vice President Kamala Harris. The survey indicates that 50% of cryptocurrency owners plan to vote for Trump, while only 38% favor Harris. In contrast, among non-cryptocurrency holders, Harris leads Trump by 12 percentage points, with 53% backing Harris and 41% supporting Trump. “Trump has been reaching out to the crypto community, and it seems to have paid off,” said Dan Cassino, professor of Government and Politics at Fairleigh Dickinson and the poll’s executive director, in…

The U.S. Ethereum spot ETF experienced zero net inflow for the first time in 30 trading days since its launch, according to SoSoValue data. On August 30th, Eastern Time, the total net inflow of the Ethereum spot ETF was recorded as US$0.00, marking a significant shift in investor sentiment. This lack of inflow coincided with a daily net outflow of US$0.00 from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF ETHE, which has seen a historical net outflow of US$2.561 billion. In contrast, the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF ETH experienced a daily net inflow of US$0.00, contributing to its total historical net…