Major venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has invested in its first "DeSci" (as in "decentralized science") project — AminoChain, according to a16z General Partner Arriana Simpson on X. A16z led the $5 million seed round announced on Wednesday. 

The project is looking to bring “ownership, transparency, and consent” into the field of medical data collection using blockchain technology. AminoChain is building a “decentralized biobank” and Layer 2 network that will connect enterprise medical institutions looking to share medical data while preserving patient privacy, Simpson said. 

According to AminoChain’s website, medical institutions can install “Amino Node” software and integrate it with its existing tech stack. “While data stays self-custodial on the given institutions' servers, the Node software harmonizes and standardizes the data into a common format, making it interoperable with a network of collaborators,” the startup said. 

“The Node software thereby sources data from all providers and brings credible neutrality to the network; from this basis, developers can source data from a multitude of medical bodies and build any number of patient-centric applications,” AminoChain continued. 

Decentralized science, or DeSci, refers to the use of blockchain to make various aspects of scientific research and collaboration more open, incentivized and community-driven. 

The first application that will be built on AminoChain will be a peer-to-peer marketplace for “bio-samples” called the Specimen Center, which will house an inventory of research samples of human tissue potentially useful for scientific research.

“With Specimen Center, biobanks can now give permission for researchers and collaborators to query their sample collections, and they can equally query for research assets available to them. Between institutions, users can streamline licensing agreements, track sample and data use, and maintain full provenance of biosamples across an interoperable network of biobanks,” the company said. 

AminoChain previously raised $2 million in pre-seed financing, bringing its total raised to date to $7 million.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Theta Labs, the developer behind the entertainment-focused blockchain project Theta Network, has launched EdgeCloud for Mobile, allowing Android users to contribute spare GPU power to the Theta EdgeCloud network and earn TFUEL tokens. According to the team: "Available on Google Play, the app lets users provide resources during idle times, supporting AI research in media, healthcare and finance. Using a Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN), Theta EdgeCloud cuts GPU-intensive task costs by over 50% compared to traditional cloud providers, offering scalable, decentralized AI model training and inference services." The blog post reads: "For the first time ever, the Theta team has implemented a video object detection AI model (VOD_AI) that runs on consumer grade Android mobile devices, delivering true computation at the edge and enabling unparalleled scalability and reach. VOD_AI is a computer vision technique that uses AI to analyze video frames to identify objects by scanning video frames, looking for potential objects and drawing bounding boxes around them. This process is similar to how the human visual cortex works." (THETA)

Protocol Village is a regular feature of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. Project teams can submit updates here. For previous versions of Protocol Village, please go here.

In total, the $5.8 billion in options set to expire represents 33% of all outstanding contracts currently on Deribit, making this one of the most significant expiries of the year and one that could shape the market's direction in the near term.

Bitcoin traded flat in the past 24 hours, changing hands at $63,568 at 12:03 a.m. ET, according to The Block’s Price Page. The price of ether decreased by a muted 0.6% to $2,601 in the same period.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Citrea‘s testnet is live on Bitcoin’s Testnet4, providing a platform for developers to build decentralized applications (dapps) without sacrificing Bitcoin’s self-sovereignty. The project introduces a trust-minimized approach using BitVM and the Clementine bridge, which will enable the secure bridging of bitcoin (BTC) for use in decentralized finance (defi).

By opening Bitcoin’s blockspace to EVM-compatible applications, Citrea aims to scale Bitcoin’s utility without relying on custodial solutions. Citrea’s infrastructure focuses on enhancing security and decentralization. The testnet supports multiple operator setups to mitigate risks associated with single points of failure. It also tests fraud-proof mechanisms to detect and prevent malicious operators.

Citrea’s bridge is designed for a 10 BTC fixed-amount bridging system, with ongoing development to improve accessibility and support third-party solutions like atomic swaps to facilitate more flexible transactions. “Developers have already started building third party solutions for swapping between BTC and cBTC (Bitcoin on Citrea),” the Citrea blog post states. “These third party solutions aim to make bridging to Citrea more accessible and feasible.”

The Citrea team sees this launch as a crucial milestone in developing a Bitcoin-backed economy. By enabling dapp developers to use BTC for settlement, the project aims to foster financial inclusion and independence in a non-custodial fashion. The ultimate goal of Citrea is to scale Bitcoin’s foundational principles, offering secure and censorship-resistant financial infrastructure for the global economy.

The upgrade introduced the Savanna consensus algorithm, marking a new era of network performance, reliability, and speed.

On September 25, 2024, the EOS network announced the successful completion of the landmark Spring 1.0 upgrade. This upgrade introduced the Savanna consensus algorithm and marked a new era of network performance, reliability, and speed. By increasing transaction finality to 1 second, EOS achieved more than 100 times improvement over previous iterations. Rapid advances in speed, security, and scalability lay the foundation for future cryptographic breakthroughs.

This upgrade reflects the shared vision and dedication of the EOS global decentralized community, underscoring its commitment to pioneering blockchain innovation.

In September 2024, Galois Capital, a now defunct crypto hedge fund, settled with the SEC for $225,000 over “custody failures” related to safeguarding clients’ crypto assets. While the amount may seem small, the implications for the Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) community, digital asset industry and custodians are significant.

This case marks a pivotal moment in how digital asset custody is and will be regulated, and signals the SEC’s intention to bring crypto custody further under federal jurisdiction.

The SEC’s release on Galois Capital set forth that the hedge fund failed to ensure crypto assets were held with a qualified custodian, violating the Investment Advisers Act’s Custody Rule. Galois Capital improperly custodied assets at FTX, which held a South Dakota state trust license and was deemed “not a qualified custodian” by the SEC.

When FTX collapsed, customers lost access to their funds that were commingled with FTX’s assets.

The SEC’s Custody Rule has long been in place to protect investors’ funds by mandating RIAs custody funds and assets with a custodian that maintains segregation between client and firm assets. For decades, this rule applied primarily to traditional financial assets, but the rise of digital assets prompted the SEC to highlight its oversight over this new domain.

In 2023, the SEC proposed formal amendments to the Custody Rule to explicitly cover digital assets. While these changes are not yet finalized, the Galois Capital case demonstrates that the SEC is already holding firms accountable for not custodying crypto assets through a qualified custodian.

The message is clear: RIAs (registered investment advisors) managing digital assets must take immediate steps to align with the SEC’s custody standards or face similar disciplinary actions.

This raises the question of what constitutes a “qualified custodian” in the digital asset space? According to the SEC’s Proposed Safeguarding Rule, “A qualified custodian generally is a federal or state-chartered bank or savings association, certain trust companies, a registered broker-dealer, a registered futures commission merchant, or certain foreign financial institutions (“FFI”).” Many non-depository trust companies claim on their websites that they are “qualified custodians.” But many fail to specify whether this is a claim under state law or the Investment Advisers Act of 1940/SEC Custody Rule.

Read more: Nathan McCauley - What an SEC Proposal Means for RIAs in Crypto

Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear distinction of what licenses grant “qualified custodian” status under state or federal law as it’s up to the custodian to meet the threshold prescribed in the SEC’s Custody Rule. More concerning, RIAs may only realize they are using a non-qualified custodian when the SEC takes action against them, or the custody provider’s business falters.

This was the case for Prime Trust, a Nevada-chartered trust company that touted itself as a Qualified Custodian dating back to 2019. In 2023, it was found that Prime Trust was using money from customer accounts to cover millions in losses resulting from a combination of account mismanagement and a market downturn. The company would later declare bankruptcy. In the Galois example, FTX’s South Dakota state trust license came under the SEC’s scrutiny only after clients' funds were lost.

Ultimately, the strength of any custodial license is only as strong as regulators’ abilities to oversee the actions of the custodian, putting the burden of due diligence squarely on the RIA.

For RIAs managing digital assets, the Galois Capital settlement offers several clear takeaways:

While the Galois Capital case highlights the potential pitfalls of improper custody practices, it also presents an opportunity for RIAs. As the SEC clarifies its expectations around digital asset custody, firms that proactively adopt the “gold standard” of custody can differentiate their digital asset offerings to clients while reducing the risk of SEC enforcement action.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

A group of former government employees and compliance officials, now working in the crypto industry, rallied in front of the United Nations on Wednesday to show support for Tigran Gambaryan, Binance's head of financial crime compliance who's been detained in Nigeria since February.

Gambaryan is being held as a representative of the company he works for, with prosecutors trying him on money laundering charges brought against Binance. He is being held in the Kuje Prison, which is notorious for holding terrorists and other criminals, where his health has deteriorated heavily; in a recent video, he was struggling to walk with a crutch. A spokesperson for his family said he has also suffered multiple infections, as well as a herniated disc in his back.

Despite this, the U.S. government only publicly acknowledged his detention earlier this month, though Secretary of State Antony Blinken has discussed Gambaryan with Nigerian officials in May, the New York Times reported.

Amanda Wick, a former federal prosecutor and government investigator who organized the protest, noted that Gambaryan used to work for the U.S. government.

Prior to his role at Binance, Gambaryan was an investigator with the IRS's Criminal Investigation wing.

"America has fought harder for people who committed crimes [in the countries they were detained in] than for someone who fought for his country," Wick said.

Nigeria prosecuting someone to get the attention of their employer is "truly unjust," said Chris Tyrrell, the chief risk and compliance officer at Ondo Finance.

Gary Weinstein, the founder of Infinity Advisory LLC and former state assistant attorney general, said all of the attendees present were in favor of consumer protections and "high-integrity" markets, including Gambaryan. He noted that Gambaryan had been invited by the Nigerian government when he visited in February and was given a "false assurance of safe passage."

"One cannot do their job if one is in fear of getting snatched by a nation-state," he said.

Read more: 'Why Are You Doing This to Me?': Detained Binance Exec Begs Prison Guard for Help in New Court Footage

Billy Markus, known on social media as Shibetoshi Nakamoto (a playful reference to the Bitcoin creator’s pseudonym), who created the iconic meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin, has taken to the X platform to make it clear that he has no intention to work on any other crypto project ever.

He also revealed the very first coin he had worked on before making DOGE and slammed Ethereum-based coins, whose creators claim they were made in 2013.

"I will never create any cryptocurrency" again: Billy Markus

Earlier today, Markus posted a tweet to clarify his participation in the making of Dogecoin (and another crypto currency that failed) and make sure the community understand that he does not have any plans to build a new cryptocurrency ever again - especially a meme coin.

HOT Stories Dogecoin Founder Says He Will Never Make Any (Meme) Crypto AgainMichael Saylor Weighs in On BlackRock's Ultra-Bullish Bitcoin StatementEthereum ICO Participant Wakes Up After 9 Years of Dormancy Bitcoin Pitched as Risk-Off Asset by BlackRock Exec

just going to reiterate that i have not created any cryptocurrency except dogecoin in 2013 (and bells before that), have not worked on any cryptocurrency since 2014, and will never create or work on any cryptocurrency since those two
anything claiming i am affiliated is lying

Advertisement— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) September 25, 2024

Shibetoshi Nakamoto also clarified that he had only created two coins in his life – Dogecoin, and Bells before that. He underscored that since 2013, when DOGE was launched and he along with the other founder, Jackson Palmer, stepped down from the project, he has not been part of any cryptocurrency.

i wouldn’t create another meme coin

— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) September 25, 2024

Markus made it clear that he “will never create or work on any cryptocurrency since those two.” He added that any crypto project that claims that he is affiliated with it is deceiving the crypto community.

RelatedSat, 09/21/2024 - 11:45Dogecoin Founder Spills Beans on His Epic Draining DOGE Sale
Bells coin by Dogecoin creator

As for the Bells token he mentioned briefly, Markus provided more details in the comments, answering an X user. Markus said that he made a code for the Bells coin before he offered Palmer to work on DOGE together.

The current Bells project, he stated, runs on Ethereum, and it is very different coin from what he initially made: “Keep in mind that the current bells token was completely resurrected, the old blockchain was wiped out and a new one was started by others.”

“The new one isn’t my project, it was just based on code i made 11 years ago,” he stressed.

no, that’s an ethereum token, i didn’t make it
ethereum didn’t exist in 2013
i made a scrypt coin that failed instantly in 2013, which was resurrected by other people last year

— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) September 25, 2024

Markus pointed out that while, these days, some Ethereum-based token creators claim they launched their crypto in 2013, that “is a very obvious lie, ethereum wasn’t even made until 2015.”

While addressing a question as to whether it was him who created Bitcoin, Markus responded sarcastically, "Yes and i created the internet and oxygen."

Michael Saylor, eager Bitcoin proponent and cofounder of MicroStrategy business software giant, has published a tweet to support the recent statement made by BlackRock about Bitcoin that made ripples across the cryptocurrency community on Tuesday.

Saylor issued a supportive comment on what BlackRock’s head of digital assets Robbie Mitchnick said about Bitcoin and its properties during his appearance at Bloomberg Crypto.

BlackRock exec praises Bitcoin

Answering the host’s questions about retail investors getting into Bitcoin with its high volatility and questions about the prospects of its further use in the future, Robbie Mitchnick made several bullish statements on the world’s flagship cryptocurrency.

HOT Stories Michael Saylor Weighs in On BlackRock's Ultra-Bullish Bitcoin StatementEthereum ICO Participant Wakes Up After 9 Years of Dormancy Bitcoin Pitched as Risk-Off Asset by BlackRock ExecBitcoin (BTC) Golden Cross Coming, Ethereum (ETH) Reclaims Bullish Trend, Binance Coin (BNB) Breaks 65-Day Resistance

Mitchnick stated that BlackRock thinks about Bitcoin as an emerging global monetary alternative and “a scarce, global, decentralized, non-sovereign asset.” It has no risk tied to any particular country, and it is becoming particularly popular amid growing concerns about extensive money printing, fiat currency debasement and escalating political, fiscal and sustainability challenges not only in the United States but in other countries as well.

#Bitcoin is an emerging global monetary alternative; a scarce, global, decentralized, non-sovereign asset. - Robbie Mitchnick, @BlackRock Head of Digital Assets pic.twitter.com/ZOkq2Whzqt

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) September 24, 2024

“That resonates with a lot of investors,” Mitchnick pointed out. Besides, he added, Bitcoin combines the properties of both risk-on and risk-off assets. He added that every year, two or three things happen that impact the fundamental value of Bitcoin, and this year, he believes, there were four. However, he believes that what is happening in the equities and jobs markets now has no connection to Bitcoin.

As a reminder, this year, among the key Bitcoin price drivers have been the fourth Bitcoin halving and the approval of the spot Bitcoin ETFs granted by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Last week, BlackRock also gained the approval of its Bitcoin options from the SEC. This milestone was largely celebrated by the cryptocurrency community.

RelatedSat, 09/21/2024 - 20:00Bitcoin (BTC) BlackRock Victory Commented on by Top Bitcoiner Angel Investor
BlackRock ETF absorbs almost $100 million

After a short period of zero inflows, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF again began absorbing funds. According to analytics account @spotonchain, on Sept. 24, BlackRock’s IBIT consumed $98.9 million. That was BlackRock’s second consecutive day of positive netflows.

It surpassed the rest of the Bitcoin-based ETFs, with Bitwise, Fidelity and Grayscale lagging behind with $17.4 million, $16.8 million and a marginal $2.9 million of inflows. The other Bitcoin ETFs saw zero inflows from the market.

🇺🇸 Spot ETF: 🟢$136M to $BTC and 🟢$62.5M to $ETH
🗓️ Sep 24, 2024
👉 Notably, the net flows for both BTC and ETH ETFs rebounded sharply with no outflows, primarily driven by strong inflows from #BlackRock.
Follow @spotonchain and check out the latest updates about #Bitcoin and… pic.twitter.com/hH0O8GZxTw

— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) September 25, 2024

In total, $136 million went into the spot BTC funds on Tuesday.

SINGAPORE — Stablecoins will drive institutional adoption in Asia, "even if regulators are not happy with it," Chainalysis co-founder and CEO Michael Gronager said in an interview at Token2049 in Singapore. Yet, while more users in the region have leaped into cryptocurrency than elsewhere, the U.S. is still the industry's most influential geography.

Stablecoins, crypto tokens whose value is pegged to a real-world asset like the dollar or gold, underpin the crypto trading system. Also, because their value is fixed – or meant to be – they can be used as a store of value and a medium of exchange.

"One of the things we have seen as the biggest trends in crypto right now, and probably the killer app, is something as mundane as stablecoins," he said. "Two-thirds of all transactions in transaction volume on blockchains are stablecoins."

Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics company, regularly releases reports on the state of crypto and its adoption across the world. The most recent listed five Asian countries in the top 10 of the Global Adoption Index. India and Nigeria have kept the top two positions for two years in terms of grassroots crypto adoption, and Indonesia, a new No. 3, is the fastest growing.

"Last year, one or two banks in Japan said they wanted to launch a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin within a year. It hasn't happened yet," Gronager said. "I had conversations last week in Japan and now we have 10 banks wanting to launch such stablecoins.

"Why hasn't it happened yet? (Because) banks are slow. They talk to the regulator."

Regulators definitely have "some level of concern" and many things will need to be ironed out, he said. In the meantime, banks have to face growing competition from stablecoins when it comes to remittances, according to Gronager.

While Asia appears to dominate in terms of adoption, the U.S. which ranks fourth in the Chainalysis report, is the most influential region because that's where the trading volumes come from and the crypto economy looks to institutions like the U.S. Congress and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for big signals.

"The real volume of crypto is tied to countries like the U.S. and others," Gronager said. "The story we are trying to tell you is more like saying crypto users per capita. So basically, how many people using [crypto] within the country. The adoption is, like, who's holding crypto for the average people in countries. In the U.S., that's less than it is, for example, in India."

Despite the regulatory influence and despite crypto influencers' focus on the U.S. presidential candidates' positions on the industry, the November election isn't a big deal, Gronager said.

"It won't matter much," whether Donal Trump or Kamala Harris wins, Gronager predicted. "Just getting on the other side" of this election will be healthy for everyone."

Read More: India and Nigeria Lead the World in Crypto Adoption Again, but Indonesia Is Fastest Growing: Chainalysis

According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, an Ethereum (ETH) address recently emerged from more than nine years of dormancy to deposit 5 ETH (roughly $13,000 at current prices) to the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange. 

This specific participant in the initial coin offering (ICO) received a total of 2,000 ETH for $620. 

The Ethereum ICO, which took place between late July and early September 2014, secured a total of $18 million worth of funding. The Ethereum blockchain ended up going live in July 2015. 

HOT Stories Michael Saylor Weighs in On BlackRock's Ultra-Bullish Bitcoin StatementEthereum ICO Participant Wakes Up After 9 Years of Dormancy Bitcoin Pitched as Risk-Off Asset by BlackRock ExecBitcoin (BTC) Golden Cross Coming, Ethereum (ETH) Reclaims Bullish Trend, Binance Coin (BNB) Breaks 65-Day Resistance

RelatedMon, 09/23/2024 - 17:18Ethereum Bulls, Buckle Up: VanEck Expert Reveals Crucial Market Update

Earlier this year, another ICO participant deposited more than $9 million worth of ETH into Kraken after several years of dormancy.  

Ether is currently trading at $2,625, according to data provided by CoinGecko. The price of the second-largest cryptocurrency has slipped by 1%. 

A well-known technical reversal pattern called Head and Shoulders may be developing for Bitcoin. It frequently indicates a possible change in trend. According to the provided chart, Bitcoin appears to be close to finishing this formation, which usually results in a change in market sentiment and a sizable price move. 

The head, right shoulder and left shoulder are the three peaks of the Head and Shoulders pattern. The shoulders on either side are lower but about the same height as the head, which is the highest peak. Bitcoin may make a significant move higher and create the conditions for a powerful rally if it breaks below the neckline, which is the support level connecting the shoulder's lows. 

BTC/USDT Chart by TradingView

Assets that deviate from this pattern historically see large gains. Following a profitable Head and Shoulders pattern, assets typically grow by 30 to 40%, on average. With Bitcoin currently trading at roughly $63,800, a comparable percentage increase could push the cryptocurrency toward the $90,000 mark — a level that many traders have been predicting.

HOT Stories Bitcoin Pitched as Risk-Off Asset by BlackRock ExecBitcoin (BTC) Golden Cross Coming, Ethereum (ETH) Reclaims Bullish Trend, Binance Coin (BNB) Breaks 65-Day ResistanceBill Maher Exposes Crypto’s “Dirty” Secret$100 Trillion for Binance: CEO Teng Reveals Jaw-Dropping All-Time High

RelatedWed, 09/25/2024 - 05:46Bitcoin Pitched as Risk-Off Asset by BlackRock Exec

It is crucial to remember that Bitcoin needs to overcome significant resistance levels in order for this pattern to fully materialize. The immediate obstacle is the $65,000 level, where Bitcoin has had difficulty keeping up its pace. The pattern may become invalid, and there may be a retracement toward $60,000 or even lower if the asset is unable to push above this level with significant volume.

Support at $60,500 and $58,000 will be important levels to monitor on the downside. If the pattern fails and there is a breakdown below these levels, more downside could be anticipated. A bullish move toward $90,000, on the other hand, might be sparked by a break above $65,000 with significant volume.

Robbie Mitchnick, head of digital assets at financial titan BlackRock, has opined that Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, should be treated as a risk-off asset. 

The BlackRock executive views it as an emerging global monetary alternative that offers such properties as scarcity and decentralization. 

He has rejected the popular talking point about Bitcoin being a risk-on asset that is supposed to trade in tandem with equities. He argues that Bitcoin's price action is driven by different factors.   

HOT Stories Bitcoin Pitched as Risk-Off Asset by BlackRock ExecBitcoin (BTC) Golden Cross Coming, Ethereum (ETH) Reclaims Bullish Trend, Binance Coin (BNB) Breaks 65-Day ResistanceBill Maher Exposes Crypto’s “Dirty” Secret$100 Trillion for Binance: CEO Teng Reveals Jaw-Dropping All-Time High

RelatedSat, 08/17/2024 - 14:11BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Hits Another Historic Milestone

Mitchnick noted that Bitcoin's long-term correlation with stocks is actually close to zero despite short-term spikes. 

Speaking of the recent approval of options for BlackRock's IBIT, Mitchnick stated that this product would make it possible to trade and hedge risks in a more "flexible" way.

Debunking Coinbase rumors 

Mitchnick has also addressed the recent conspiracy theory involving Coinbase, the leading US exchange. 

As reported by U.Today, some members of the Bitcoin community started spreading rumors about Coinbase buying "paper Bitcoin" on behalf of BlackRock. 

A recent BlackRock amendment requires withdrawals to be processed within 12 hours directly on-chain.

RelatedThu, 09/19/2024 - 18:43BlackRock Exec Makes Bullish Bitcoin Prediction

However, Coinbase's Brian Armstrong was quick to shut down the rumors, pointing to the fact that all ETF mints and burns are actually settled on-chain.

During his most recent interview, Mitchnick has clarified that "nothing of significance has changed here" when addressing the Coinbase rumors. He downplayed the significance of the recent amendment, claiming that it was merely "operational fine-tuning." 

Everyone is waiting to see what Floki, First Neiro on Ethereum, and Popcat will do next.

These three meme coins have received enormous attention lately, and investors are curious if their prices are about to rally again.

In this article, we’ll provide some price predictions for these coins – and see if they’re worth the hype.

Could FLOKI Continue Its Bullish Momentum in October?

Floki (FLOKI) has been on a tear lately, climbing 15% in the past week to hit $0.00014.

The coin’s trading volume has exploded too, jumping 75% to $249 million in the last 24 hours.

That’s made FLOKI the 5th most-traded meme coin.

And its price action continues to look bullish.

On the 4-hour chart, FLOKI is posting higher highs and lower highs, and it’s also managed to sustain above the 200-period EMA.

All these signs point to another rally in October.

If FLOKI keeps this momentum going, it could rise to $0.000208, which would take it back to the July highs.

It would also represent a 48% increase from today’s price.

NEIRO Price Explodes – But What’s Next?

You might want to start paying attention if you haven’t heard of First Neiro on Ethereum (NEIRO).

This meme coin has been a hot topic, rocketing over 3,500% in the last month.

That means it has outpaced all other established joke tokens.

NEIRO was listed on Binance last week and is now the fourth most traded meme coin, with $328 million in volume since yesterday.

The coin’s price is sitting at $0.00118 right now – but the chart looks positive.

A bull flag is forming on the 1-hour timeframe, and if it breaks to the upside, we could see NEIRO make another big move.

The last bullish impulse took NEIRO to a new all-time high.

And we could see a similar sized pump if NEIRO rallies – potentially taking the coin up to $0.00207 in October.

Can POPCAT Maintain Its Surge & Hit a New All-Time High?

Popcat (POPCAT) has also been crushing it, with a 41% surge in the last week that’s taken it to a new all-time high.

The coin’s price is hovering around $1.02 right now.

And while it has pulled back in the past few hours as investors take profits, the overall trend still looks strong.

The key level to watch is $1.

It’s a psychological round number, and if POPCAT can confirm it as support, that could set the stage for another leg up.

A bounce from $1 could easily see POPCAT make a run at $1.20 in October.

That would be a solid 20% gain from where this Solana meme coin is currently.

New Meme Coin Pepe Unchained Raises $15M & Signals Serious Price Potential

FLOKI, NEIRO, and POPCAT are getting all the attention.

But a newer meme coin is also generating a lot of buzz – Pepe Unchained (PEPU).

It’s still in presale but has raised over $15 million, which shows just how much hype there is around this project.

So, what’s all the fuss about?

It’s because Pepe Unchained takes a different approach than most “no-utility” meme coins.

The team is developing a Layer-2 network dedicated to joke tokens.

This network is intended to be faster and cheaper to use than Ethereum, making it a go-to spot for meme coin traders and creators.

But that’s not all.

Pepe Unchained will also have a double staking protocol with high rewards, which could attract a lot of holders.

The community is already growing quickly on Twitter and Telegram, and right now, investors can snag PEPU tokens for just $0.00984 each.

Pepe Unchained’s team hasn’t yet released a date for the planned DEX listing.

However, many investors believe that PEPU’s price could rocket once it happens.

The project’s unique selling points and huge presale funding could lead to some serious demand from retail traders.

If the listing does happen in October, Pepe Unchained might be another meme coin to watch.

Visit Pepe Unchained Presale

This is a sponsored brand spotlight content post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below.

Unexplained large Bitcoin (BTC) transfers from one unknown wallet to another have been observed over the past few days. The latest episode of this unexplained activity is the transfer of $1 billion in Bitcoin from a number of unknown addresses to brand new wallets in batches of exactly 2,000 BTC. 

It is not known what this is related to or what the purpose is, nor is it known who is hiding behind these addresses. 

RelatedWed, 09/25/2024 - 08:41Michael Saylor Weighs in On BlackRock's Ultra-Bullish Bitcoin Statement
HOT Stories Dogecoin Founder Says He Will Never Make Any (Meme) Crypto AgainMichael Saylor Weighs in On BlackRock's Ultra-Bullish Bitcoin StatementEthereum ICO Participant Wakes Up After 9 Years of Dormancy Bitcoin Pitched as Risk-Off Asset by BlackRock Exec

However, one of the clues that has surfaced is that, thanks to data from Arkham Intelligence, one of the sender addresses may belong to Fidelity Custody, a crypto custodian for one of the largest hedge funds in the world with approximately $5.4 trillion in assets under management. 

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 2,001 #BTC (128,899,588 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown new wallethttps://t.co/BuSU9VZqhD

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) September 25, 2024

This year, Fidelity added its own spot Bitcoin ETF, FBTC, to its asset-heavy portfolio. 

Fidelity and Bitcoin

The crypto hedge fund custodian, if the data is to be believed, now has 287,153 BTC worth $18.35 billion and 287,064 ETH worth $753.91 million. It is important to clarify that these funds include MicroStrategy, Fidelity FBTC ETF and Fidelity FETH ETF, which are clients of this custodian. 

Are these transfers some sort of internal operation to get their wallets in order, or is there more to it? 

Source: Arkham Intelligence

It is an open question, and we should not rule anything out. In recent days, FBTC has seen more inflows than outflows.

RelatedWed, 09/25/2024 - 08:34Bitcoin (BTC) Flashes 'Head and Shoulders': $90,000 Incoming?

Perhaps the movement of $1 billion of Bitcoin between addresses is a confirmation that a new period of positive flows into Bitcoin ETFs awaits us for some time and, therefore, the presence of demand for the cryptocurrency. Demand is, of course, favorable for the price of BTC, which is frozen at 16.5% of its all-time high.

Despite its estimated size of over $3.1 trillion in 2024, today's telecom industry is facing financial, technological, and infrastructural sustainability challenges. As an average of 26% and 29% of households regularly experience unreliable Wi-Fi or broadband and mobile data in their homes, respectively, connectivity problems and service unreliability force people to miss out on opportunities. Regardless of the high rates of unreliability, customers have been paying expensive prices for telecom services, which have further increased due to inflationary pressure.

This op-ed is part of CoinDesk's new DePIN Vertical, covering the emerging industry of decentralized physical infrastructure.

The telecom industry is also facing a rising threat of security breaches, with a two-fold increase in confirmed security incidents between 2022 and 2023. In fact, the personal data of an estimated over 74 million US telecommunications clients was leaked on the dark web last year. Fortunately, DePIN can provide an effective way to tackle this ongoing challenge with a more resilient and distributed infrastructure that promotes reliable, cost-efficient, and scalable connectivity solutions for telcos.

With Messari estimating its total addressable market to be over $2.2 trillion today and exceeding $3.5 trillion by 2028, the DePIN sector decentralizes the ownership and control of real-world physical infrastructure via blockchain technology.

In the telecom industry, a DePIN solution could enable participants to provide network connectivity by purchasing and setting up antennas or hotspots. These devices are all connected to a decentralized network, where their operators receive token rewards in exchange for service coverage. Money is not printed out of thin air, as incentives are covered by the fees users pay for utilizing the network.

With crowdsourced infrastructure, providers don’t have to invest in the deployment and maintenance of new or existing hardware. Doing so helps telcos offload traffic from their current ecosystems without incurring further CapEx or operational expenditures (OpEx).

At the same time, additional coverage can be created for a fraction of the price of traditional services by incentivizing individuals and communities with token rewards. Obviously, the coverage of DePINs is currently limited compared to the massive networks of telco giants. However, given sufficient distribution, they have the potential to deliver equivalent service levels while offering cost-efficient prices for consumers and enterprise clients.

Since the community is in charge of infrastructure development, DePINs can scale more efficiently than traditional telecom networks. There is no need to sign lease agreements or evaluate whether it makes sense financially for the telco provider to extend its services to a new region. Instead, network participants will handle this task and bear its costs, making expansion feasible even to locations that have long been underserved by traditional infrastructures.

From the perspective of DePINs, their business model doesn’t necessarily involve direct competition with telecom providers. Instead, they can tap into telco giants’ established infrastructures to offer users a decentralized, resilient, and efficient telecom solution at a fraction of the costs of conventional solutions. Simultaneously, while telcos can use this opportunity to generate additional revenue, it allows DePINs to expand their networks, further lowering the costs and increasing service quality.

In fact, a collaborative model is more viable for DePINs in their early stages of development than a competitive one. Even after a couple of years of active infrastructure deployment, their connectivity and reliability won’t be able to match the established networks of telco giants, which have been built and maintained for tens of years. This doesn’t mean that DePINs are slow to expand. On the contrary, it will take some time for them to survive on their own in the telecom market. So, for the time being, decentralized telecom networks will complement traditional telco infrastructures rather than replace them.

By embracing blockchain technology and decentralization, DePINs eliminate traditional telecom infrastructures' single points of failure, which attackers have repeatedly exploited in data breaches. Instead of a central server, data is distributed across thousands (if not millions) of devices in the ecosystem, making it extremely challenging and expensive to gain access to customers' records, install malware, or disrupt the network's stable operation in other ways.

The DePIN model is not just more secure, but it can also accelerate telecom infrastructure development. With the right token incentives, DePINs can deploy their networks at a substantially faster pace than conventional telcos, leading to more rapid expansion and improved service coverage over time. Designed to reward ecosystem participants for building and maintaining telecom infrastructure, these incentives make telecom infrastructure development less CapEx- and OpEx-heavy. In addition to distributing infrastructure deployment and maintenance across a decentralized network of participants, crowdsourcing hardware further reduces the costs of telcos.

DePINs can also fill service coverage gaps, especially in remote areas and locations where traditional infrastructure deployment and maintenance would be too expensive for providers. With crowdsourced hardware and token incentives, decentralized telecom networks can expand connectivity to these underserved regions as well. By joining forces, DePINs can significantly extend the coverage of telcos and enhance service reliability and network performance, as well as decrease the frequency of outages through an interconnected telecom network that encompasses both conventional and decentralized infrastructure solutions.

As I see it, what poses the most significant barrier is onboarding traditional telcos into the Web3 ecosystem. Despite a history of embracing innovation and new technology, the telecom sector largely operates within the Web2 framework. To address this issue, DePIN providers must reduce Web3 complexities and streamline the onboarding process for telcos.

Infrastructure deployment presents another challenge for DePINs. Many organizations within this sector believe that it is enough to simply incentivize the establishment and expansion of decentralized infrastructure. But this approach is not sufficient to solve telcos’ and their customers’ real problems with connectivity.

As a long-term solution, DePINs should not only incentivize infrastructure development but also guarantee that they are deployed in locations with genuine demand for connectivity. Simultaneously, incentives should be created to ensure enterprise-grade signal quality and network stability.

Despite all the challenges, I believe DePIN is the killer use case for enterprises adopting blockchain, and it has the potential to become the next trillion-dollar industry. After the mass adoption of DePIN, distributed ledger technology will have a transformative effect on the telecommunications sector, similar to the launch of the internet. In the end, it will lead to efficient infrastructure deployment and maintenance with automatic settlements and billing among all parties, fostering decentralization, independence, and seamless collaboration between multiple stakeholders.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

Ethereum’s ability to host a wide-range of applications and assets has been evident for years, but the investment case for its native token, ETH, has become increasingly complex. In the wake of key protocol changes, particularly the hardforks activating EIP-1559 and EIP-4844, investors are asking how Ethereum’s adoption will translate into ETH’s long-term value.

While the platform has scaled, the relationship between its growth and ETH’s supply and demand — and thus its price — is no longer as straightforward as it once seemed.

You're reading Crypto Long & Short, our weekly newsletter featuring insights, news and analysis for the professional investor. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.

When Ethereum implemented EIP-1559 in 2021, it introduced a burn mechanism where the overwhelming majority of transaction fees (base fees) would be permanently removed from circulation. This created a direct relationship between Ethereum usage and ETH’s supply. As users paid for transactions on the Ethereum network, the burn would act as a deflationary force, reducing ETH’s supply and putting upwards pressure on its price.

In 2023, our valuation model at CoinShares showed that under the right conditions, where Ethereum generated $10 billion annually in L1 transaction fees, something it achieved at its 2021 heights, ETH could reach a value near $8,000 by 2028.

Since then, however, optimism has waned due to the Dencun hardfork and the rise of Layer-2s (L2), which have upended the fee burn and altered ETH’s value potential.

L2 platforms were designed to scale Ethereum by moving transactions off the main chain (L1) and onto faster, cheaper networks. Initially, L2s complemented L1, helping the network handle more transactions without clogging the base chain — like a pressure release valve giving balance in times of high usage.

But with the introduction of “blob space” in 2024, L2s could now settle transactions on L1 at much lower costs, reducing their requirement to pay expensive L1 fees. As more activity migrated to L2s, the supply burn that EIP-1559 was designed to instill began to drop, weakening the downward pressure on ETH’s supply.

The reality of Ethereum generating high L1 fees to support ETH’s value is now looking bleak. L1 transaction fees have steadily collapsed, leading to questions about what differentiates the services offered at each layer, and what will drive the L1 fee landscape moving forward.

Despite these challenges, there are potential paths forward to restore demand for L1 transactions and, in turn, ETH valuation.

One option is developing high-value use cases that rely on L1’s security and reliability, yet, given current trends, this appears unlikely in the near future. Another possibility is that L2 adoption grows so rapidly that the sheer volume of transactions compensates for the discounted fees — but this would require extraordinary L2 growth, beyond near-term expectations.

The most likely, and perhaps the most controversial, solution is repricing blob space to increase L2 settlement fees. While this would restore some of the L1 supply burn, it risks upsetting the economics of L2s that have been key to Ethereum’s recent success and enhanced its ability to compete as an ecosystem with alternative platforms (like Solana, Binance Chain, etc.).

While L2s have scaled Ethereum, they have also disoriented the mechanisms that tie ETH’s value to its utility. For investors, this means that ETH’s future depends on how Ethereum balances innovation with maintaining healthy economic policy.

For now, ETH’s investment case is unsettling, and risks remain high as the Ethereum community decides its path forward.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

“The time has come,” stated Fed chairman Jerome Powell back in August at the Jackson Hole central bank symposium. Last week, the Fed cut its federal funds target rate by 50 bps to 5.00% p.a. (upper limit) which was slightly more than markets had priced in before the FOMC meeting. In other words, the Fed positively surprised markets with this rate cut.

It is quite likely that the Fed is just getting started with rate cuts. At the time of writing, the market already expects 3 additional cuts (75 bps) by year-end and another 5 cuts (125 bps) next year through December 2025. The Fed has also telegraphed additional cuts via its latest Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) (aka “dot plot”).

Nonetheless, despite this more-than-expected interest rate reduction of 50 bps, it is quite likely that the Fed still remains “behind the curve.”

You're reading Crypto Long & Short, our weekly newsletter featuring insights, news and analysis for the professional investor. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.

For instance, a standard Taylor rule based on the unemployment rate and core PCE inflation implies that a fed funds target rate of around 3.6% p.a. is already warranted based on the underlying economic and inflationary momentum.

In addition, the latest fund manager survey by Bank of America indicates that monetary policy was still “too restrictive” in September 2024 – in fact, the most restrictive since October 2008 according to this survey.

There still remains an increased risk of a recession as several reliable indicators such as the prominent “Sahm rule” remain triggered.

That being said, our quantitative analyses imply that global growth has become less relevant for the performance of bitcoin while other factors like monetary policy or the US dollar have become more important.

In other words, a US recession might not be as negative as widely anticipated for bitcoin and other cryptoassets. To the contrary, it may lead to even more Fed rate cut expectations and US Dollar weakness which could provide even more tailwind.

With the latest move by the Fed and other major central banks, the global liquidity tide is clearly turning; global money supply has already reached new all-time highs and is accelerating. Expansionary money supply growth periods are usually associated with bitcoin bull runs.

The re-steepening of the US yield curve which tends to be a recessionary indicator is also an indicator for increasing liquidity and therefore bullish for scarce assets like bitcoin.

What is more is that the increase in global liquidity is coinciding with the increasing supply scarcity of bitcoin which has been intensifying since the latest halving in April 2024.

Our analyses have shown that there tends to be a significant lag between the halving event itself and the moment the supply shock starts to become significant, as the supply deficit only tends to accumulate gradually over time.

So, it appears as if there is a perfect confluence between an increase in potential demand via global money supply and a simultaneous reduction in available supply via the halving.

The market has been mired in “chopsolidation” – a choppy consolidating range-bound market – since the latest all-time high in March 2024. This was due to several factors such as government sales of bitcoin, Mt. Gox trustee’s distribution of bitcoins, or the macro capitulation in early August 2024.

In this context, the summer months have generally been one of the worst performing months for bitcoin historically with September being the worst month of the year.

However, Q4 tends to be the best month for bitcoin from a pure performance seasonality perspective and we also expect bitcoin to break out of this chopsolidation in Q4.

It seems as if the wait for a new break-out to the upside is finally over. The Fed pivot may have just delivered the perfect catalyst for that.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

Sept 25 Update:

10 #Bitcoin ETFs

NetFlow: +1,727 $BTC(+$110.43M)🟢

#iShares(Blackrock) inflows 1,547 $BTC($98.93M) and currently holds 359,280 $BTC($22.97B).

9 #Ethereum ETFs

NetFlow: -7,997 $ETH(-$21M)🔴

#Grayscale(ETHE) outflows 30,251 $ETH($79.47M) and currently holds 1,687,123 $ETH($4.43B).

https://x.com/lookonchain/status/1838602903633956967

As its eagerly awaited airdrop approaches, tap-to-earn game Hamster Kombat has revealed an ambitious roadmap for the year following its token launch on The Open Network (TON). Plans include NFTs and new games—and starting to distance itself from Telegram exclusivity.

Hamster Kombat’s tap-to-earn game has been hugely popular attracting over 300 million players as gamers tapped their screens via a Telegram mini app in an attempt to gain a slice of a future airdrop. Approximately 130 million players will receive HMSTR when the airdrop goes live on Thursday, but what happens after that?

The anonymous team behind Hamster Kombat has ambitious plans, according to a roadmap shared with Decrypt on Wednesday. In October, Hamster Kombat plans to launch the second season of the game and will look to rapidly expand its game library with new titles—similar to what tap-to-earn predecessor Notcoin has done.

The developers are also looking to integrate “external payment systems” to help create an on-ramp into the game. This will help once, in November, the game will integrate NFTs into the game. In the same month, Hamster Kombat will also look to publish its first “cohort of games” created by third-party developers.

These games are likely to be found within the upcoming Hamster Kombat progressive web app (PWA) for iOS, Android, and desktop—PWAs are websites that behave like regular apps. This would mark the start of the game becoming less reliant on Telegram, the app it grew from.

“Telegram will always be a crucial part of Hamster Kombat and its ecosystem of products. Still, we are looking to expand in order to capture the audience that isn't on Telegram yet,” the team told Decrypt via email. “Ultimately, we see it as a positive development both for Hamster Kombat and Telegram itself as a platform for mini apps, since it will bring additional exposure.”

The shift comes amid a turbulent time for Telegram and TON. The messaging app’s CEO and co-founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France last month and faced multiple charges including enabling the use of his platform for drug trafficking, organized fraud, and the dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Since then, the app has agreed to share user data with authorities in some circumstances.

The Open Network, meanwhile, has surged in 2024 on the back of games like Hamster Kombat and Notcoin, but the network collapsed twice in one week late last month due to sizable demand for another token airdrop claim. TON Core developers have warned that the Hamster Kombat drop could cause similar network turbulence ahead.

Still, Hamster Kombat’s plans do not slow down from December and beyond, following that first step away from Telegram exclusivity. Per its roadmap, Hamster Kombat aims to launch a dedicated ad network, an NFT marketplace, two “major game titles” with HMSTR integration, and start the first “competitive clan championship.” And that only brings us to next spring.

“We're also planning to use ad revenue to buy back tokens from the market for regular distribution to players and token burns,” the team explained in a press release. 

In the summer, Hamster Kombat aims to launch the second phase of its airdrop—this will likely mark the end of season two—and allow for user-generated content within its ecosystem. Finally, next autumn, the team will look to move beyond its PWA by integrating directly with desktop games.

“We are building a real business, not yet another crypto project.” Hamster Kombat’s team said in a press release, further pledging to “onboard the next billion users into Web3.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward