2024-02-26 13:37

The company now has about a $3.8 billion in unrealized profit on its bitcoin stash. The largest corporate owner of bitcoin (BTC), MicroStrategy (MSTR) has purchased an additional 3,000 tokens for $155 million, bringing the company's total holdings up to 193,000 coins. These new buys were made between Feb. 15 and Feb. 25 and the tokens were acquired at an average price of $51,813 each, according to an SEC filing. The company now holds 193,000 bitcoin purchased for $6.09 billion, or an average price of $31,544 each, tweeted Executive Chairman Michael Saylor. With bitcoin currently trading at $51,366, MicroStrategy's unrealized profit stands at $3.8 billion. MSTR shares are currently up 1.1% in pre-market trading to $695. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/02/26/michael-saylors-microstrategy-purchases-an-additional-3k-btc-now-holds-10b-worth/

2024-02-26 12:28

The exchange's CEO stepped down in January. Users trying to access the site are met with a page that says: "Sorry, you have been blocked." Last year BitForex was flagged by Japanese regulators for operating without a license. Cryptocurrency exchange BitForex has gone offline after $57 million was reportedly withdrawn from the exchange's hot wallets on Feb. 23. Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said that withdrawals have stopped processing and the BitForex team is unresponsive to user requests. When trying to access the BitForex website, users are met with a page that says: "Sorry, you have been blocked." BitForex owns 18% of the total supply of tellor {{TRB}}, worth $54 million. It remains unclear whether a hacker has infiltrated BitForex's hot wallets or whether the team has voluntarily halted withdrawals. In January former CEO Jason Luo said he would be stepping down after six years at the company, according to a blog post. The official BitForex account on X has not posted any updates since Feb. 21. In 2019, a Chainalysis report claimed that BitForex could have been faking trading volume. Last year it was flagged by Japanese regulators for operating without a license. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/02/26/bitforex-website-goes-dark-amid-reported-57m-outflow/

2024-02-26 12:27

The Financial Stability Board plans to publish a status report on its crypto roadmap and a report on the financial stability implications of tokenization. The FSB said it will continue spearheading crypto policy efforts in 2024. The body plans to release reports on crypto, tokenization and AI, and ensure its global regulatory framework for crypto is implemented. Crypto assets, tokenization and artificial intelligence (AI) remain priorities for monitoring by the Financial Stability Board, which keeps an eye on the global financial system, Chair Klaas Knot said in a letter to finance ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) countries. Monday's letter comes ahead of a G20 meeting to be held in Sao Paulo on Wednesday and Thursday. It also outlines the group's plan to publish a status report on its crypto roadmap and a report on the financial stability implications of tokenization in October. The board, which coordinates with 24 countries, intends to report on the financial stability implications of AI the month after that. The FSB spearheaded efforts to create a global regulatory framework for crypto last year, when the asset class started to recover from a crippling crypto winter caused by the failures of multiple firms including crypto exchange FTX. The FSB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced a widely anticipated crypto policy roadmap last year that called for global coordination on crypto policy. "A key focus for us in 2024 and beyond is on the effective implementation of the FSB’s global regulatory and supervisory framework for crypto-asset activities and markets and for global stablecoin arrangements, which was endorsed by G20 leaders at their New Delhi Summit," Knot said. The New Delhi meeting took place in September last year. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/02/26/crypto-tokenization-ai-are-priorities-for-monitoring-fsb-says-ahead-of-g20-meeting/

2024-02-26 09:05

"We are going to follow Uniswap's lead in proposing it. It will be up to the community to pass it," CEO Sam Kazemian said. Frax Finance's core team is considering a proposal to share protocol revenue with stakers of its veFXS token. It will be up to the community to approve the proposal, Frax's CEO said. If submitted, the proposal would follow a similar one last week by the leading decentralized exchange, Uniswap. The core team behind decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Frax Finance could soon follow the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap's proposal to distribute a portion of protocol fees to stakers of its native token, Frax's CEO and founder Sam Kazemian told CoinDesk. The ecosystem's governance and utility token is (FXS). Users who lock their FXS receive veFXS tokens, allowing them to keep their utility and governance rights. The veFXS tokens can be staked on the Ethereum mainnet and natively on Frax Finance's layer 2, Fraxtal. The proposal will recommend sharing protocol revenue with veFXS stakers, Kazemian said in an interview. The community voted to stop revenue sharing in 2022. Last week, Uniswap proposed rewarding UNI token holders who stake and delegate their staked tokens with a portion of the DEX's fee earnings. UNI is the native governance token of Uniswap. The crypto community cheered the proposal, sending UNI higher by 60%. Several other DeFi tokens, including COMP, AAVE and SUHI, also witnessed an increase in value. "We are going to follow Uniswap's lead in proposing it. It will be up to the community to pass it," Kazemian said, Staking refers to locking cryptocurrencies for a set period to help support a blockchain's operation in return for a fixed percentage of rewards, analogous to interest earned on fixed-income securities. Delegation involves passing voting rights given by governance tokens to recognized decentralized autonomous organization entities called delegates. "Should veFXS holders vote to distribute Frax Protocol revenue back to veFXS stakers again? Frax Finance makes 8 figures of annual revenue & growing, mostly being conserved in the treasury now. Time to turn it back on?," Frax Finance said on social media X, testing waters for an impending fee-switch proposal. Several crypto market participants, including pseudonymous analyst Ignas and stablecoin-focused decentralized exchange Curve, responded positively to the social media post. FXS added as much as 17% to $9.87 after this report was published, CoinDesk Indices data show. It was recently trading at $9, 6% higher over 24 hours while the CoinDesk 20 Index posted a 0.35% decline for the broader market. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/02/26/frax-finance-mulls-uniswap-like-reward-mechanism-for-token-stakers/

2024-02-26 08:32

A ratio related to bitcoin futures and the volatility of options has more than doubled this year, signaling outsized levels of leverage and speculation. A key indicator based on bitcoin futures and options suggests outsized levels of leverage in the market and the potential for leverage flushout. Bitcoin has been restricted to a narrow range in recent weeks, awaiting a breakout. A bitcoin (BTC) indicator is suggesting a build-up of speculative froth in the market, often a recipe for leverage flushout and a sudden drop in price. The ratio between the implied yield basis, or annualized spread between prices for one-month futures and prices in spot markets, and options-induced one-month implied – or expected – volatility has more than doubled to around 0.34 this year, according to data tracked by crypto structuring and trading solutions firm STS Digital. "When the implied yield basis is large relative to the underlying volatility, it can signify outsized levels of leverage and speculation," Jeff Anderson, a senior trader at STS Digital, told CoinDesk. Excess bullish speculation often leads to leverage washout, or forced closure of leverage positions due to margin shortage. The so-called long liquidations can end up fueling a sharp price slide. "The market appears to be positioned for a move higher, which is all the more interesting when considering that the flows in spot have been leading the market post-ETF introduction (and thus implying that the spread could tighten)," Anderson added. Bitcoin has rallied nearly 22% to $51,500 this year, mainly on the back of strong uptake for the U.S.-based spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), approved last month. Inflows, however, slowed last week, with 10 ETFs attracting just 500 BTC on Wednesday. Previous instances of futures basis trading at extremes relative to options-induced volatility, observed in the third and final quarters of 2023, were followed by bigger daily price fluctuations, as prop trader Julien noted on X. Awaiting range breakout Bitcoin has traded in a narrow range between $50,500 and $53,500 in recent weeks. Markets build energy during such consolidations, eventually breaking out to produce large moves in either direction. "BTC is currently in a negative gamma profile range, but spot prices seem to be stuck between the $50k-$52k range, we really need to see a move out of there for any momentum to come in," Greg Magadini, head of derivatives at Amberdata, said in the weekly newsletter. A negative gamma situation is one where options market makers trade in the direction of the price – buy high and sell low – bolstering the trend. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/02/26/bitcoin-indicator-suggests-potential-for-leverage-washout/

2024-02-26 07:32

The phishing attempt has already led to $440,000 worth of crypto being stolen. MicroStrategy’s X account was hacked on Monday, leading to a phishing message being posted for its followers, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said. The X account of Michael Saylor’s crypto investment firm sent out a post announcing the launch of an MSTR token and a link for claiming the fake token. The phishing attempt has led to over $440,000 worth of crypto being stolen, ZachXBT added. The post has since been deleted. MicroStrategy was not immediately available for comment. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/02/26/microstrategys-x-account-hacked-leads-to-440k-crypto-being-stolen-blockchain-sleuth-zachxbt/