2023-12-01 01:34

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters Investing.com-- Oil prices fell slightly in Asian trade on Friday, extending losses from the prior session as the OPEC+ cut supply by a smaller-than-expected margin, while weak data from China added to concerns over worsening demand. Crude prices wiped out most of their gains made earlier this week, and were now set to end the week a smidge higher. They were also nursing two straight months of losses. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) said on Thursday it will cut production by an additional 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of 2024. But the new production cuts were voluntary, and came amid some disagreements among OPEC+ members over reductions in output. They also disappointed traders hoping for deeper supply cuts by the cartel, given the recent decline in oil prices. Brent oil futures expiring February fell 0.2% to $80.65 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.2% to $75.91 a barrel by 20:55 ET (01:55 GMT). Both contracts lost over 6% each in November, after steep declines on Thursday. Strength in the dollar also pressured crude markets, after the greenback rebounded from 3-½ month lows in anticipation of an address by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later on Friday. OPEC+ cuts underwhelm, future reductions in doubt Of the new 2.2 million bpd cuts announced on Thursday, 1 million bpd is a rollover of Saudi Arabia’s ongoing supply cuts. Russia also rolled over its ongoing curbs, but deepened them slightly to 500,000 bpd from 300,000 bpd. That left the total new production curbs at less than 1 million bpd, which underwhelmed traders hoping for bigger curbs. While the new cuts are still set to negate a crude oil surplus in the first quarter of 2024, supplies will be less tight than initially anticipated. The nature of the new cuts was also a point of contention for markets, given that they were voluntary. This raised concerns over discord among OPEC+ members, which could limit the cartel’s scope in cutting production further. African states, particularly Angola, also said they will not follow their OPEC+ peers in reducing supply. “These voluntary cuts suggest that it is becoming difficult for members to agree on OPEC+ cuts. Therefore, if further action is needed in future, it will become increasingly difficult for the group to respond,” analysts at ING wrote in a note. But ING analysts still forecast some upside for crude prices from the supply cuts, and that Brent crude may rise beyond the bank’s $82 a barrel target for the first quarter of 2024. Weak China PMIs fuel demand concerns Weak purchasing managers index (PMI) data from China added to pressure on oil markets, as business activity in the world’s largest oil importer showed little signs of improvement in November. While a private survey released on Friday showed some improvement in manufacturing activity, China's biggest economic engines still faced an uphill battle to reach pre-COVID levels. This fueled concerns that worsening economic conditions will dent global crude demand, especially as readings earlier this week also showed sustained weakness in the euro zone and Japan. An unexpected weekly build in U.S. inventories- particularly in gasoline and distillate stockpiles, also added to fears of slowing demand in the world’s largest fuel consumer. https://www.investing.com/news/commodities-news/oil-prices-slip-further-as-opec-cuts-underwhelm-china-data-weighs-3247323

2023-11-30 19:35

Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with a class-action lawsuit for his role in promoting cryptocurrency-related non-fungible tokens (NFTs) issued by Binance. The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of Florida federal court on Monday. The plaintiffs are seeking damages of at least $1 billion, claiming that high-profile endorsements by celebrities like Ronaldo led them to invest in what they consider unsafe investments. The case revolves around allegations of unlawful deception, with the plaintiffs arguing that the endorsements enticed them into purchasing these digital assets without a clear understanding of the risks involved. The lawsuit comes at a time when the cryptocurrency market is under increased scrutiny, with regulators and investors calling for greater transparency and accountability from platforms and endorsers alike. Ronaldo's involvement with Binance, one of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has brought this issue to the forefront, highlighting the influence celebrities can have on investment decisions. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/cristiano-ronaldo-faces-1-billion-lawsuit-over-nft-promotion-93CH-3247161

2023-11-30 19:17

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters MicroStrategy Inc., the software analytics company, announced Thursday that it has bolstered its Bitcoin investments by purchasing an additional 16,130 bitcoins for approximately $593.3 million, with an average price of $36,785 per coin. This strategic move, announced today, has increased the firm's total Bitcoin holdings to 174,530 BTC, marking a significant portfolio expansion of over 10%. The company, led by CEO Michael Saylor, has been acquiring Bitcoin since August 2020, when it first adopted the cryptocurrency as its primary reserve asset. As of November 29, MicroStrategy's total Bitcoin assets had reached an approximate valuation of $6.6 billion. The latest acquisition further raises their average purchase price to $30,252 across their entire Bitcoin portfolio. In addition to the Bitcoin purchase, MicroStrategy has initiated a $750 million Class A common stock offering. The offering is being conducted in collaboration with financial services firm Cowen and Company. This move comes as part of the company's broader strategy to continue investing in Bitcoin, as indicated by CEO Phong Le, who previously noted the company's intent to persist with regular Bitcoin acquisitions. The announcement of the stock offering and the Bitcoin purchase coincided with a minor early trading setback for MicroStrategy's shares (NASDAQ:MSTR), which saw a decline of 0.82%. Despite this, the company has previously recorded a substantial profit of $900 million on their Bitcoin holdings when the cryptocurrency's price was above the critical $30K threshold. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/microstrategy-expands-bitcoin-holdings-with-593-million-purchase-plans-750-million-stock-offering-93CH-3247153

2023-11-30 19:11

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters In the dynamic world of cryptocurrencies, Augur, a prediction market platform, has experienced a slight decrease in value today, with its price dropping 2% to $0.65, equivalent to 0.00001705 Bitcoin (BTC). Augur has a market capitalization of $7.10 million, with an active trading volume of $887,460 in the past 24 hours. Even with today's decline, Augur has shown resilience over the past week, marking a 1.5% increase in value. This performance comes amidst a period of mixed results across the cryptocurrency spectrum. While some, like KILT Protocol, edged up by a modest 0.3%, others such as Aidi Finance, Zoo Token, and CareCoin each fell by 2%. In contrast, Kitty Inu and Hokkaidu Inu both enjoyed a slight uptick of 1%. Meanwhile, Lego Coin held steady at its previous price, Jeff in Space saw a 2% reduction, and Lumi Credits maintained its value. AXIA Coin experienced a negligible decrease. Founded by Jack Peterson and Joey Krug, Augur was launched on November 17 and operates as a decentralized forecasting tool on Ethereum's network. The platform uses its native token, REP, for reporting and governance activities, and has an available supply limit set at 11 million tokens. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/augurs-value-dips-slightly-amid-mixed-cryptocurrency-market-trends-93CH-3247149

2023-11-30 16:47

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters. Trust Wallet, a prominent cryptocurrency wallet provider, is grappling with technical issues that have disrupted Bitcoin transactions for its users. The company identified a critical problem with its BTC node service, which has led to delays and missing transaction histories on the Bitcoin-blockbook chain. The Trust Wallet team is actively working to resolve these disruptions, which stem from an unexpected surge in Bitcoin network transactions causing congestion and instability among node providers. Trust Wallet said the increase in network traffic has placed a significant burden on nodes, exacerbated by Bitcoin's 1MB block size limit. This limitation has created a backlog of unconfirmed transactions, with nodes prioritizing those with higher fees. As a result, users have experienced slower data propagation times and increased latency, putting a strain on the computational resources of the node network. The issues began to surface yesterday, and as of today, Trust Wallet users continue to face challenges. The glitches have affected the Bitcoin Blockbook system, which is utilized by wallets, including Trezor, for data queries. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/trust-wallet-users-face-bitcoin-transaction-delays-due-to-node-glitch-93CH-3247104

2023-11-30 14:47

Copyrighted Image by: Ink Drop In a perplexing turn of events, an unusual Bitcoin transaction has caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community and AntPool, one of the leading mining pools. A user inadvertently paid a staggering $3 million in transaction fees for sending $2.1 million worth of Bitcoin. The transaction, processed in block number 818,087, was flagged by AntPool's risk control system due to the exorbitant gas fee, which equates to 83 BTC, and the funds were subsequently frozen. The incident unfolded when a user, known by the X (formerly Twitter) handle "83_5BTC," attempted to transfer 139 BTC to a new cold wallet. Following the transfer, the user claimed that their wallet had been hacked, suggesting that an automated script with flawed fee calculations might be responsible. This prompted a post-incident analysis by Mononaut, a pseudonymous developer behind Mempool, who confirmed the user's claim by message signing. Mononaut highlighted the possibility of a security compromise, indicating that attackers could have employed a replace-by-fee (RBF) tactic to inflate the transaction fees and hasten the theft of funds. The analysis pointed to weak wallet security practices, such as the usage of a low-entropy wallet like a brainwallet, as potential vulnerabilities. In response to the incident, AntPool has laid out steps for the original owner to reclaim the funds. The owner is required to verify their identity using signature tools such as Electrum or Bitcoin Core with their private key. This process must be completed before December 10th to ensure the rightful owner can recover the assets. The costly mistake serves as a cautionary tale for Bitcoin users, emphasizing the importance of robust security measures and the need for vigilance when setting transaction fees. It also showcases the proactive measures taken by mining pools like AntPool to monitor and respond to abnormal activities on the blockchain. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/bitcoin-transfer-error-results-in-3-million-fee-antpool-agrees-to-refund-fee-93CH-3246942