Daily futures trading volume on DeFi platforms reached $5 billion. This is the biggest amount since Terra collapsed in May of this year. Crypto-Upvotes expert review.

DeFi platforms increased revenues amid the outflow of funds from centralized exchanges that occurred due to the collapse of FTX. On-chain data showed an increase in activity on decentralized futures trading platforms and an increase in revenue for DeFi protocols, Cointelegraph reported.

However, not all decentralized applications (DApps) and protocols show such a trend. Because some of them have financial ties to FTX and Alameda. But data on DeFi projects’ revenues show that at least three protocols have exceeded $1 million in the last seven days, including Ethereum and OpenSea Marketplace.

Decentralized futures trading platforms have increased their trading volumes to record levels. Their daily turnover reached $5 billion, the highest since the Terra token crash in May of this year.

Despite the increase in trading volume, the total value of locked-in assets (TVL) at DeFi only increased at seven networks. Gains Network, a futures trading platform on the Polygon network, showed the biggest increase. Its TVL increased 17.3% over the week. And inter-network protocol Ren saw its TVL drop by 50%. This is because Ren worked closely with Alameda. And received quarterly funding and stored its funds directly on FTX.

Blockchain’s profit growth comes on top of an unchanged number of daily active users. Compared to previous weeks, the daily profits of leading blockchains have increased by more than 300%. This suggests that transactions among existing users are occurring more frequently.

Despite growth in profits, only Ethereum made profits among PoS-based blockchains. Other leading networks such as Polygon, BNB Smart Chain and Optimism did not profit. Holders of these tokens suffered inflationary losses.

Our experts told us what consequences may arise due to reduced liquidity on CEX exchanges. And how it will affect cryptocurrency prices

FTX exchange collapse caused a significant outflow of funds from centralized platforms. According to analytical platform CryptoQuant, after November 6, when it became known about problems FTX. CEX exchanges users withdrew 200 thousand BTC ($3.35 billion). As well as about 2 million Ethereum ($2.4 billion) and nearly $3 billion in Stablecoin.

For example, from Binance, users withdrew 81.7 thousand bitcoins ($1.35 billion) in just six days, or more than 15% of the total amount of bitcoins on this exchange. However, the head of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, called the surge in withdrawals small and explained that this is normal during a fall in cryptocurrency market.

Where do cryptocurrency owners transfer their funds?

Ordinary investors experience panic when there are some problems on centralized exchanges and market in general. And has a great desire to hide his funds to feel more relaxed. According to him, users primarily withdraw assets to decentralized wallets.

Means in these purses can not only store, but also exchange on the decentralized exchanges (DEX). After FTX started having problems, the number of such transactions increased dramatically.

In the last 24 hours alone, trading volume on DEX exchanges has increased by 38.66%, according to data from the CoinMarketCar platform.

Currently, the leading DEX platforms are Uniswap (v3), Curve (Ethereum), and PancakeSwap (v2). According to our analysts, daily trading volume on the first of them is more than $908 million, on the second and third – $170 million and $150 million, respectively.

In addition to decentralized storage, cryptocurrency owners began to take an active interest in hardware wallets. In the past week, revenue from the sales of Trezor devices grew by 300%. And competing company Ledger also recorded a significant surge in demand for its devices.

Reduced liquidity in CEX exchanges and the whole cryptocurrency market in general, what can it lead to?

Crypto market is now driven by investors’ fear of losing their investments. Reduced liquidity of crypto market and general pessimism mean a further decline in value of cryptocurrencies.

This process has a negative impact on the crypto market, it “slows” it down. This means it is not worth waiting for the recovery yet. Growth of crypto market can be forgotten for a while, now the main thing is not to fall even deeper.

However, our experts believe that cryptocurrencies are unlikely to hold out. The crypto market has not yet realized the scale of the disaster. Lack of liquidity leads to a decrease in trading volume. And hence, the profitability of trading platforms deteriorates greatly.

Large scale capital outflows can lead to a domino effect. One company is followed by collapse of other companies that are connected by common transactions. Some cryptoprojects have already reported financial difficulties caused by the collapse of FTX.

For example, crypto exchange AAX suspended withdrawals and said it lacked liquidity to continue operations. And cryptocurrency lender BlockFi is preparing a bankruptcy filing.

The next two weeks will show how serious the situation in cryptocurrency market is. According to our analyst, new bankruptcy filings will mean a massive collapse of the whole crypto industry.

Participants of trading on CEX exchanges may find it difficult to sell some coins quickly

This could happen because the outflow of assets from such exchanges reduces the volume of liquidity on them. Most likely, popular coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Stablecoin will not be affected. But some altcoins traded in tandem with Bitcoin or ether may suffer, according to our expert. Their liquidity will be low. This means traders will prefer not to deal with such liquidity. And prices for these altcoins will go down, largely due to the lack of active trading on exchanges.

“It’s a market, it’s all interconnected. The churn is mostly in Bitcoin and Stabelcoin, and all other pairs are losing liquidity,” explains our expert.

Traders can now pay attention to native coins DEX-exchanges. In addition, our expert noted that DEX crypto wallet tokens may also show growth in price.

Hong Kong authorities is preparing to cancel the current rule, which allows trading in digital currencies only to persons with a wealth of at least $1 million. Crypto-Upvotes Expert Review

Hong Kong authorities intend to legalize retail operations with cryptocurrencies. As well as with other digital assets and exchange investment funds working with cryptocurrency. The government is preparing to cancel the current rule. Which allows trading in digital currencies only to persons with a wealth of at least $1 million.

At the same time, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong for the first time presented the criteria for obtaining a license for exchange-traded investment funds. Which work with ETFs on cryptocurrencies. At the first stage, they will be able to invest in Bitcoin and ETH futures. And in future the list of available instruments will be expanded.

Last fall, authorities announced its own digital currency (CBDC). Work on the CBDC project began in June 2021 as part of the “Fintech 2025” strategy. Which aims to modernize Hong Kong’s existing economic system.

Gaming coins, management tokens and other promising cryptoprojects with potential for growth in price.Review by Crypto-Upvotes experts

Every year a number of cryptocurrencies grows and it becomes difficult to determine which of the new coins can potentially bring profit. And which cryptoprojects should be treated with more skepticism. Our experts have named several promising tokens that have been released recently.

Apecoin (APE) 

One of the interesting novelties of 2022 is APE token. It was introduced by the developers of the acclaimed NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). The idea of the project is to use the new token as a manager in the ecosystem under development.

The BAYC developers plan to create a full-fledged meta universe for the owners of NFT collection monkeys. Apecoin will be used as a token to provide in-game transactions. And allowing you to take part in voting on the future of the project, says our expert.

Bored Ape collection almost immediately after the launch has become a kind of cult. It is used primarily as an admission ticket to the private club of “crypto-snobs”. APE owners can indirectly benefit from the development of this small but rather strong community.

“Potentially, after the change in global market trend, we can expect a high interest in this project, and, consequently, practical application of tokens and their multiple increase in price,” – believes our expert.

Aptos (APT) 

Our expert also called cryptoprojects Aptos, a new blockchain, a rather bright and loud novelty of 2022. The project is interesting from the point of view of marketing campaign. But not only because of that, it can also be useful as a testing ground for new technological solutions in the industry.

The team of Aptos creators is trustworthy. Earlier this team was engaged in development of Diem cryptocurrency wallet for social networks of Mark Zuckerberg. This cryptocurrency project never took off because of the resistance of American regulators. But according to our expert, there is no doubt in the competence of the developers.

Aptos blockchain is aimed at the hottest topic of this year – Web3. And this also plays into the hands of the project, which only attracts participants and investors so far. This blockchain has all the major innovations. Such as parallel transactions to increase the conductivity of the blockchain. As well as smart contracts, a system of increased cybersecurity, and the ability to run NFT collections.

Now the ecosystem is actively being filled with applications. Our expert believes that by the new year there will be a significant inflow of liquidity into the ecosystem. Aptos is definitely worth keeping an eye on in the next six months although the start of APT token trading in the middle of October was quite scandalous.

“Unfortunately, the reality is that today it is not so much the most useful projects that survive as the most quoted ones. Although one should not belittle the merits and technical results of the Aptos team. But it is obvious that the emphasis of the project is on the marketing component,” said our expert.

Battle Infinity (IBAT) 

If we consider more risky, but no less promising cryptoprojects in 2022. Then we should also pay attention to Battle Infinity gaming tokens. Despite the fact that previously the team of developers from India has not been seen in successful cryptoprojects, their proposed concept is interesting.

Token essence, as in many similar projects, comes down to the role of manager and in-game token, our expert explained. He specified that in case of successful realization this project will unite several sports games inside its own single Metaverse. In this Metaverse IBAT will be the link of the whole ecosystem.

Buying this token is quite a risky investment for this type of project at its current stage of development. Especially with the bearish trend of the whole crypto market, our specialist warned. But, he noted that in case of success, it may turn out that the price of the token will increase many times due to its active use within the ecosystem. Although the project is risky, it is worthy of careful study.

Algorand (ALGO) 

Another cryptoprojects worth keeping an eye on, even though it is not as new as the above mentioned ones, is Algorand. Our expert explained that it is a decentralized platform with smart contracts for DeFi, digital asset release, Web3 projects and other similar developments.

Our expert again turned his attention to the team of creators. This project was started by MIT professor Silvio Micali. The team managed to achieve partnership agreements with a number of states over several years. These include states like the Marshall Islands and El Salvador. This means that blockchain is potentially interesting for launching national digital currencies (CBDC).

Also, our expert pointed out that USDT and USDDC stackcoins are already running on the Algorand blockchain. And this means that it is a sought-after network. In the long term, Algorand may take its niche among other DeFi-oriented ecosystems.

Disclaimer: We do not give financial advice on buying certain cryptoprojects. This review focuses on cryptocurrencies that are promising according to our experts

Cybercriminals send emails on behalf of Metamask cryptocurrency wallet support

New phishing attack targeting MetaMask crypto wallet users was detected by cybersecurity company Halborn. Scammers send a phishing link to your email. And they look like they were written to you by official Metamask support.

This email looks like a real message from MetaMask. It uses a logo of cryptocurrency wallet with a picture of a fox. And in this message there is a link to an open appeal to support. This email contains a demand to verify your wallet by August 30.

When user clicks on proposed link he is redirected to a scam site. Which is similar to MetaMask page. This site prompts the user to enter a Seed phrase (a unique set of words) from their wallet.

Team Halborn notes that their sender’s name and email address contain a spelling mistake. Their name is Metamaks instead of MetaMask. Scammers also use a fake domain (metamaks.auction) and a server unicarpentry.onmicrosoft.com. Which has nothing to do with the real wallet support service. Earlier in mid-July, FBI reported that American investors who used fake crypto-apps and websites. According to FBI data, 244 people were victims of scammers who created copies of web-pages and mobile wallets of famous companies.

Important

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts warn you. Never click on unverified links that you received to your email. Carefully read who sent you email and look for spelling mistakes in names or links you received. Because scammers use similar names of large companies. But they are different if you look closely and compare names. You should also go to official website of any company on behalf of which scammers have written to you. And check whether there are official important notices with any requirements for users. If there are no important announcements, you can delete this email. Remember an important detail, dear MetaMask users. Scammers can steal your funds. If only you tell them your secret Seed phrase. So never give this information to anyone.

Why it’s not a good idea to buy a rapidly growing asset and use highly leveraged debt. And under what conditions do most new users lose money because of Whales

Many cryptocurrency users believe that big investors, known as Whales. They use media hype and technical manipulation of cryptocurrency exchanges for their own profit. It is believed that the income received from such actions, Whales receive at the expense of losses of many smaller investors.

Crypto-Upvotes experts told us what schemes Whales use to manage prices in crypto markets. And how not to fall into a trap prepared by them.

Our experts tell us what manipulation schemes Whales use

Whales use the same schemes to manipulate the price of an asset. As do most famous investment funds or banks on the stock market. In exchange trading and speculation, psychological factors always matter. It is enough to leak FUD about problems of this or that crypto-platform. As their tokens begin to decline in price. Also our Crypto-Upvotes experts give an example of tweets of Elon Musk. After which the value of some “meme” cryptocurrencies quickly rises.

Another popular method of manipulation is through volume sales or purchases of assets. Selling can stimulate a decline in the value of BTC and other coins. Or be a signal that the price will start to fall. A large purchase of an asset by an institutional investor could be the result of insider information. And predict a rapid rise in price of coin.

There are quite a lot of opportunities to manipulate the price. Informedness of exchanges themselves allows Whales to create conditions for short-term price changes. Clients of some exchanges say that after making the first serious profit on margin accounts (futures contracts). They have problems with opening “sell stop” and “buy stop” orders. Which automatically and unnoticeably for trader change to other types of orders. For example when BTC quotes were balancing near $20,000. FTX clients began to complain about the inability to place buy orders below that level. Because their prices “are out of the range calculated by this platform”.

Another way to manipulate without direct sales. Is to create “walls” of buying or selling. By setting high volumes to sell at lower market limits. It forces those who want to sell to lower their prices quickly. After that price falls and the “wall” goes even lower. In fact, Whale is not even directly involved in trades in this scheme. But he provokes other traders to conduct transactions under much worse conditions for themselves.

How not to fall into trap prepared by Whale and not to lose your money

A huge number of bull and bear traps are created specifically to take money from new investors. Therefore, investors without experience are advised to engage in long-term investments.

Therefore, we should not be focused on actions of large investors. You have to follow their actions, but don’t try to repeat all their actions yourself. That way there is less chance that Whales will use you for their own goals. And forcing you to buy or sell something. Make your own decision, not influenced by tweets from Elon Musk.