🌐 Glassnode: "crypto-whales" transferred 140,000 BTC in February "
Since the beginning of February, cryptocurrency whales have moved more than 140,000 BTC, according to analyst firm Glassnode.
Glassnode analysts call “whales” bitcoin holders with reserves of more than 10,000 BTC. They have been accumulating BTC reserves for a long time, even in January, the whales added over 80,000 BTC to their wallets. However, in February, these bitcoins began to move. According to the Glassnode report, large holders transferred 140,000 BTC worth $ 6.72 billion. Analysts suggest that such a movement of coins is most likely related not so much to their sale as to moving them to cold wallets for long-term storage.
Interestingly, smaller holders behaved differently. If in January owners from 100 to 1,000 BTC transferred a total of 95,000 coins worth $ 4.56 billion from their wallets, in February such users, on the contrary, accumulated bitcoins. They acquired 117 thousand BTC for $ 5.61 billion.
As for the owners of wallets that store from 10 to 100 BTC, they are getting rid of the reserves of the first cryptocurrency for the fourth month in a row. Since November 2020, they have withdrawn a total of 128,000 BTC.
After reaching a historical maximum of $ 58,300 on February 22, already on February 23, the rate of the first cryptocurrency fell to $ 46,000, falling by almost 25% in a few hours. This may well correlate with the profit taking by large BTC holders.
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🌐 A built-in DEX aggregator and Brave Wallet will appear in the Brave browser
The developers of the Brave browser have updated the project roadmap. It includes the creation of a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator and a Brave Wallet to replace current cryptocurrency wallets.
According to the BAT Roadmap 2.0, the Brave developers are planning important changes to the browser. The add-ons will expand the reach of the browser beyond web browsing and provide support to the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) industry.
Developers will create a DEX aggregator to help users find and fix the best possible price across multiple decentralized exchanges. However, according to the roadmap, Brave could potentially create its own DEX - the developers have confirmed that they are exploring such a possibility.
“One of our goals is to make cryptoassets easy to use for all of our users,” said Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave. "The proprietary DEX we are investigating can help achieve this goal by allowing users to securely exchange BAT and other assets at a lower cost, within an improved user interface through embedding in Brave."
Brave already has built-in widgets for the Binance, Gemini and Crypto.com exchanges on its homepage. But decentralized exchanges open up new trading opportunities. Brave could create an exchange that will use its own crypto asset BAT, which has a current market cap of over $ 700 million.
DEX may open up new uses for BAT, such as paying transaction fees or getting discounts on BAT ownership. Details about Brave's DEX aggregator have not been disclosed, but the developers say it will differ from its counterparts by providing discounts for BAT owners.
According to the developers, the basis for the mass adoption and use of cryptocurrency and DeFi will be the Brave Wallet, which will combine Brave Rewards, custodian and non-custodial accounts in Brave. Brave Wallet is a new Ethereum wallet implementation that will replace the existing Brave wallets. The developers will redesign the user interface and add support for both desktop and mobile versions.
The Ethereum JavaScript Provider API (window.ethereum) will be provided to web pages by default, without the need to install a separate extension. In addition, the developers plan to add to the new wallet the ability to buy cryptocurrencies with fiat currencies through credit and debit cards, bank accounts and smartphone wallets.
Recall that recently a leak of confidential information from the Tor network to DNS providers was discovered in the confidential Brave browser .
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🌐 PDAX exchange demanded from traders to return bitcoins bought at $ 6100
The Philippine cryptocurrency exchange PDAX demanded that traders return the bitcoins bought on February 16 at $ 6,100, since this price appeared as a result of a trading platform failure.
Due to the platform failure for several hours, the bitcoin rate fell to $ 6,000. Thousands of traders took the opportunity and bought BTC, and some even managed to withdraw the purchased bitcoins to their wallets. After discovering and fixing the problem, the bitcoins were also written off from the users' balances. But they remained with traders who managed to withdraw coins to external wallets.
“I managed to withdraw the purchased BTC to an external wallet before trading and, subsequently, access to the site were stopped. After 24 hours, I received a letter and an SMS to my number with a demand to return the bitcoins. I bought the coins legally and did not violate anything, but they promised to sue me if I do not return the BTC, "wrote one of the Reddit users.
On February 23, PDAX CEO Nichel Gaba held a press conference during which he said that the load on the platform led to a technical failure that allowed trades on unsecured orders. This led to a cascading effect and a drop in the bitcoin rate to $ 6,100.
“I understand perfectly well the indignation of users who bought bitcoins, as they think, at a very low price. But we have never owned so many bitcoins and in fact it was impossible to buy or sell them, these are just glitches, ”Gaba said.
Also, according to CEO PDAX, some users are still unable to access their accounts, but such clients are not more than 0.2% of the total number of users.
At the end of January, the Central Bank of the Philippines announced the introduction of compulsory licensing of companies providing services for working with cryptocurrencies.
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🌐 Standard Bank launched its own Hedera Hashgraph node
South African bank Standard Bank has launched its own node in the Hedera Hashgraph network to use blockchain and DLT for international transfers.
The head of innovation at Standard Bank Group, Ian Putter, announced that the bank has become a member of the Governing Council of the Hedera Hashgraph decentralized platform to implement blockchain at the corporate level. Council members also include Google, LG and IBM. Standard Bank will be one of the first African banks to use distributed ledger technology (DLT) for cross-border transfers.
Putter believes that the introduction of innovations in payment systems will create conditions for faster and more cost-effective transactions not only with African banks, but also with partners from other continents. Putter also noted the growing interest of banks in government digital currencies. In his opinion, this indicates the development of technologies based on DLT, which can radically change the current business processes.
“We've tested the proof of concept and are partnering with those willing to use blockchain to scale their operations. Our key challenge is to continue researching and experimenting with DLT and leveraging existing solutions to improve the efficiency of interbank payments, ”said Putter.
Many African banks are interested in using blockchain and DLT, according to Hedera CEO Mance Harmon. The needs of their customers are constantly changing, so financial institutions are ready to innovate in order to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Harmon added that in addition to the financial industry, there is a lot of interest in blockchain in healthcare, energy, logistics and data identification.
Recall that last year the Australian electronic payment system Eftpos also announced its readiness to test the Hedera Hashgraph blockchain for micropayments.
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🌐 VersaBank to Launch Canadian Dollar-Backed Stablecoin VCAD
Canadian bank VersaBank plans to launch a digital currency called VCAD, which will be backed by Canadian dollars deposited with the bank in a 1: 1 ratio.
VersaBank executives announced that VCAD will be "the first digital currency issued by a Canadian bank to represent a fiat currency." To this end, the bank has partnered with Canada Stablecorp, a joint venture between investment fund manager 3iQ and Mavennet. Last year, Canada Stablecorp announced the development of the QCAD stablecoin based on the Ethereum blockchain.
The stable cryptocurrency VCAD will be available in the coming months. It will be issued to VersaBank's financial partners in exchange for Canadian dollar deposits. Stablecorp CEO Jean Desgagne said the digital currency is being developed to address two major flaws in the cryptocurrency market - unnecessary volatility and security threats.
In the future, it is planned to launch other digital currencies pegged to the US dollar and euro - VUS and VEuro. However, VCAD won't be the only stable cryptocurrency backed by the Canadian dollar. In 2019, Coinsquare launched the eCAD stablecoin, and TrustToken introduced the TrueCAD stablecoin (TCAD). Both cryptocurrencies are backed by the Canadian dollar at a 1: 1 ratio.
As a reminder, VersaBank successfully tested digital storage for cryptocurrencies a few years ago . According to the bank's management, its employees do not have access to the assets located in the "virtual safe".
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🌐 Central Bank of China and UAE join the "bridge" project for the state cryptocurrencies of Thailand and Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Thailand announced that the central banks of China and the UAE are joining a project aimed at using blockchain for international payments.
According to a joint statement by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Thailand, the Bridge to Central Banks Digital Currencies project will explore the possibilities of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for international payments by developing a Proof of Concept (PoC) prototype.
Specifically, central banks will explore the possibilities of DLT and government cryptocurrencies to facilitate real-time cross-border multi-currency payments. The creators of the new "bridge" plan to expand the project by attracting more central banks, which will assess its feasibility in the region and then around the world.
Earlier, the Bank of Thailand implemented the Inthanon research project to experiment with the state cryptocurrency, which first became known in 2018. Subsequently, the Central Bank of Hong Kong and several large Thai banks were involved in it, with the help of which a prototype of a proof of concept based on DLT was implemented.
In addition, in December it became known that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority was in talks with the People's Bank of China (PBC) to test the digital yuan for international payments.
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🌐 Banks require Indian traders to report cryptocurrency transactions
The Indian branches of banks HSBC, HDFC and Citi require cryptocurrency traders to provide a report on transactions with digital assets, otherwise their bank accounts may be closed.
Indian clients of these banks began to receive messages demanding clarification on the conduct of incoming and outgoing transactions with cryptocurrencies. To do this, you must personally come to the bank branch. If no clarification is received, banks may block user accounts. The letters say that in order to comply with regulatory requirements, banks are required to carefully study the transactions carried out by their customers in order to protect them from the risks associated with digital currencies.
The Indian government is considering a complete ban on the use of digital assets in the country, despite criticism and disagreement from participants in the cryptocurrency industry. Many leaders of Indian cryptocurrency trading platforms believe that a ban on owning, trading, mining and investing in cryptocurrencies will contribute to even greater poverty in the country.
The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin, Sathvik Vishwanath, said that the government must act "in the opposite direction" to develop the Indian economy. He explained that with the help of cryptocurrencies, people without access to banking services can also become an important part of the country's financial system.
Recall that at the beginning of the month, the Central Bank of Nigeria banned commercial banks and financial institutions from servicing the accounts of firms that carry out operations with cryptocurrencies. HSBC, one of the UK's largest banks, has stopped processing payments related to digital assets and is preventing its clients from cash out from cryptocurrency wallets. British bank Lloyds Bank is also taking similar actions in relation to cryptocurrency traders.
The author of the podcast What Bitcoin Did, Peter McCormack, said that by taking such measures, banks are distancing themselves from traders and "hurting themselves." McCormack believes that people should make their own financial decisions, and banks should not limit their customers to this.
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🌐 The Block: DeFi Protocols Surpassed $ 170 Million In February
February turned out to be very successful for the decentralized finance industry - the profits of the DeFi protocols reached a record high and exceeded $ 170 million.
According to analysts at The Block, at the moment DeFi protocols have made a profit of $ 171.5 million, which is 14.4% more than in January, when for the whole month the profit was $ 149.9 million.
The Uniswap platform remains the leader in terms of profit - it accounts for 43.6% of the total industry profit ($ 74.74 million). The second place was taken by the SushiSwap exchange with 20.9% ($ 36.04 million), and the Compound protocol closes the top three with 15.9% ($ 27.43 million). Interestingly, February was a record profit for all decentralized protocols, with the exception of Balancer.
At the same time, profits are mainly distributed between creditors and liquidity providers. The owners of the protocols, including developers and holders of significant volumes of tokens, also received a significant part of the profit. Participants of referral programs received the smallest part of the profit. This is due to the fact that not all protocols have such programs.
Recall that in mid-February, the total trading volume on the Uniswap exchange exceeded $ 100 billion.
