Today's Top Crypto Headlines:

XRP Skyrockets: Penalty as ‘Victory’ | Bitcoin Whales | USDe Stablecoin On Solana | Developer Hacks Atari | Nexera Hacked and more…

Author

King Fatrick Gil Añasco
August 08, 2024

Good Morning Crypto Enthusiasts!

Glad to have you back for another edition of the UseTheBitcoin.com newsletter.

  1. XRP Skyrockets: Penalty as ‘Victory’: The price of XRP surged 26% as the Ripple vs. SEC case nears its final stages, with no indications that XRP will be classified as a security.

  2. Bitcoin Whales On The Move: Bitcoin whale transactions peaked during a significant market downturn on August 5 and 6, with large holders accumulating BTC as prices fell below $50,000.

  3. 📈Technical Analysis Masterclass - With technical indicators and market sentiment both pointing towards potential further declines,

    Bitcoin may need stronger support levels to stabilize. Watch UseTheBitcoin’s latest Youtube video “These Signs Are Still Pointing Downwards (BTC)” to survive a possible second wave of the crypto market crash or join our Official Telegram Channel for more alpha!

  4. USDe Stablecoin On Solana: Ethena Labs launched its USDe stablecoin on the Solana network, expanding beyond Ethereum.

  5. Developer Hacks Atari’s ‘On-Chain’ Game: Kautuk Kundan, CEO of Stackr Labs, hacked the leaderboard of Atari's new crypto arcade game, Asteroids, to demonstrate it was not fully on-chain.

  6. 💡Feature of the Day - DeFi Nexera Hacked: Nexera, a DeFi protocol, was hacked for $1.5 million in NXRA tokens through a smart contract exploit.

    All this and more in today’s headlines!

    Trade crypto directly with your bank account!

📰 News Highlights:

XRP Rockets: Penalty as ‘Victory’ [Source][Source][Source][Source][Source][Source]

The price of XRP surged 26% as the Ripple vs. SEC case appears to be nearing its final stages, with no signs suggesting that XRP will be classified as a security.

A New York federal judge ordered Ripple Labs to pay a $125 million civil penalty, marking a significant moment in the three-year legal battle.

The judgment, filed on August 7, found Ripple liable for the penalty, to be paid within 30 days, as part of the case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Judge Analisa Torres, who presided over the case, found that 1,278 transactions violated Section 5 of the Securities Act, resulting in the civil penalty.

Despite this, Ripple's CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, and chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, called the ruling a victory, highlighting that the court reduced the SEC’s proposed penalty by 94%.

The ruling seemingly positions Ripple’s case with the SEC in its final stages, initially filed in December 2020, accusing Ripple of using XRP as an unregistered security to raise funds.

Following the ruling's public release, XRP's price jumped roughly 24% from $0.50 to $0.62.

Bitcoin Whales On The Move [Source][Source][Source]

Bitcoin whale transactions reached their highest levels since April during a significant crypto market downturn on August 5 and 6, according to on-chain data from Santiment.

Wallets holding between 10 and 1,000 BTC rapidly accumulated as Bitcoin's price fell below $50,000 amid what was dubbed "Crypto Black Monday." Santiment reported 28,319 BTC transactions worth more than $100,000 and 5,738 transactions worth more than $1 million during the price dip.

On August 7, Bitcoin whales, or permanent holder addresses, had acquired almost $23 billion worth of Bitcoin over the previous 30 days, with activity peaking during the market crash.

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju noted that more than 400,000 BTC had moved to permanent holder addresses since early July, indicating a trend of accumulation.

📈Technical Analysis Masterclass:

A Short Term "Second Wave" Crypto Market Crash is Coming

  • Bitcoin's Position: Price remains below the 100-day and 200-day moving averages (MA), with the 20-day and 50-day MAs about to cross below these critical zones.

  • Negative Momentum: The MACD indicator is in the red zone, indicating negative market momentum.

  • RSI Stability: No significant change in the RSI, suggesting that rough times could persist.

Support and Resistance Levels

  • Previous Supports: $56,000 to $58,000 could now serve as resistance levels.

  • Needed Support Base: Bitcoin may need to revisit the $48,000 to $50,000 levels to establish a stronger support base.

Market Sentiment

  • Stock Market Impact: U.S. stocks are all in the red, sharing the same market sentiment characterized by emotion, fear, and panic.

  • Spillover Effect: Fear and sell-offs in the stock market could spread to crypto investors.

  • Recession Fears: Looming fear of a market recession might keep investors on edge.

USDe Stablecoin On Solana [Source][Source][Source]

Ethena Labs has launched its USDe stablecoin on the Solana network, expanding its reach beyond Ethereum. Announced on August 7, the stablecoin is now integrated with multiple Solana-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and DeFi protocols, including Kamino Finance, Orca, Drift Protocol, and soon Jito.

Borrowers will be able to use Solana as collateral for USDe loans once Ethena (ENA) token holders approve its use.

Previously available only on Ethereum, USDe is backed by Lido Staked Ethereum (stETH) and short positions in the Ethereum perpetual futures market, providing yield from Ethereum staking rewards and negative funding rates on its short positions.

Ethena Labs founder Guy Young stated that the stablecoin's yield is "publicly verifiable" and comes from legitimate revenue sources, countering criticisms of unsustainability.

Developer Hacks Atari’s ‘On-Chain’ Game [Source][Source][Source]

Kautuk Kundan, founder and CEO of Stackr Labs, revealed he hacked the leaderboard of Atari's new crypto arcade game, Asteroids, to prove it wasn't truly on-chain. Built on Coinbase's Ethereum layer-2 network Base, the game claimed to be fully on-chain.

However, Kundan's team manipulated the leaderboard without playing, simply by sending API calls to Web2 servers, showcasing the game's lack of blockchain integration.

In an August 6 post on X, Kundan explained that the game does not initiate on-chain activity when played. Instead, scores are reported via API calls, which can be easily manipulated.

Atari launched Asteroids in partnership with Coinbase's layer-2 Ethereum network Base on July 25, offering prizes for top scores, including a $1,000 Atari gift card.

💡 Feature of the Day: 

DeFi Nexera Hacked [Source][Source][Source][Source]

Nexera, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, was hacked for $1.5 million worth of Nexera (NXRA) tokens through a smart contract exploit.

The Nexera team paused the token contract and advised investors to stop trading NXRA following the incident, revealed in an August 7 post by Cyvers.

The hacker took control of Nexera's proxy contract and used the withdraw admin function to transfer all NXRA tokens. The attacker began selling the stolen tokens for Ether and bridging some funds to the BNB chain, with a total estimated loss of $1.5 million.

On-chain investigator ZachXBT linked the attacker to previous private key compromises involving other DeFi platforms.

Today’s Sponsor:

Looking for an exchange that prioritize the safety of your assets?

This week, we have partnered with UAE's fastest growing crypto exchange M2.

Trade crypto directly with your bank account!

Invest in over 40 verified crypto assets

Maximize your crypto trading potential with Smart Trading

Boost your crypto portfolio with High-Yield Crypto Investments

Maximize and protect your earnings today with M2.

😂 Crypto Meme of the Day: 

And that’s it for this today.

Prioritize the safety of your assets! Trade securely and boost your crypto portfolio with today’s sponsor, M2 Crypto Exchange.

See you all tomorrow’s edition!


Jonathan Gibson
UseTheBitcoin.com