Cryptocurrency trading volumes rose in June for the first time in three months.

The optimism of cryptocurrency traders is linked to an application by management company BlackRock to open a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).

Total spot and derivatives trading on centralised exchanges rose 14% to $2.71 trillion.

Increased volatility following the SEC lawsuit against Binance US and Coinbase. As well as a positive market outlook following bids for spot bitcoin ETFs by companies such as BlackRock and Fidelity contributed to increased trading activity last month.

Cryptocurrency spot trading volumes remain at historically low levels. The second quarter was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2019.

One of the world’s largest investment firms, BlackRock, is set to launch an exchange traded fund (ETF) for Bitcoin. This is an important step for the market due to BlackRock’s reach. And also because the fund will allow investors to buy bitcoin as ETF shares from a regular brokerage account.

In an application filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company is asking to be allowed to trade the cryptocurrency through the iShares Bitcoin Trust vehicle. It will be a spot fund, meaning that when its shares are purchased, there will be an actual purchase of coins in the market. It will also make it easier for institutional investors, including pension funds, to own cryptocurrency. Our experts note that as of the end of March, BlackRock had more than $9 trillion under management.

We explain the importance of the TVL indicator and how to calculate it correctly. And how to use it to assess the investment case for blockchain projects

Total value locked (TVL) is one of the key metrics. It helps to understand the value of a blockchain-based service, protocol or application. The use of smart software contracts in such applications is rethinking traditional financial solutions by automating contractual logic. And it does not require an intermediary in the form of the usual financial institutions (banks, exchanges or others).

Smart contracts enable the development of decentralised finance (DeFi). The transparency of the blockchain as a public registry of transactions makes it possible to see the volume of funds. This can be seen both in an individual smart contract and in an entire ecosystem of blockchain-based applications, such as Ethereum. TVL is a key metric for demonstrating audience interest in a particular protocol. And it is commonly referred to as a decentralized application (dApp).

How TVL is calculated

Uniswap, one of the largest decentralised exchanges (DEX), is a case in point. It pioneered the development of automated market makers (AMMs). And it has made it possible for users to exchange tokens without the need for intermediaries.

Anyone can deposit funds into Uniswap liquidity pools representing paired tokens. Pools for paired tokens, such as ETH/USDT, lock in users’ funds. And in doing so, turning those users into liquidity providers (LPs). When other traders want to exchange a token (USDT or ETH), they connect to the appropriate pool to take advantage of its liquidity. The liquidity providers, in turn, receive a percentage of the token conversion.

Each liquidity pool has its own TVL, which shows how much total cryptocurrency funds in dollar terms have entered the pool. If you take the total amount of funds in each pool on Uniswap. You can then determine the total liquidity of the exchange. Similarly, all liquidity pools of other networks, remembering Ethereum, that Uniswap also supports – Arbitrum, Polygon, Optimism, Celo and others. As of early July, the total value of all blockchain tokens in all Uniswap pools is $4.11 billion, according to the DefiLlama service.

A similar process for calculating TVL can be applied to credit protocols such as Aave or Curve. This is because they use the same principle of pooling the liquidity of smart contracts. However, TVL does not take into account outstanding loans and yields. And which liquidity providers’ deposits earn. Instead, TVL only reflects the value of smart contract deposits. If you calculate TVL not at a specific protocol. But for example the entire blockchain network (e.g. Ethereum), it would take into account the total TVL of all applications. As of July, the TVL of all dApps on the Ethereum network is $26.77 billion – about 60% of the entire DeFi market.

Why TVL matters

TVL clearly shows the value of deposits and people’s interest in a particular protocol or blockchain network. Similarly, when more deposits are made to one bank than another, it indicates that the first bank is more popular.

In addition, TVL allows for an assessment of the overall health of a particular protocol. If it holds more funds. It means it has higher liquidity and can operate more efficiently. Because in decentralised finance, the liquidity providers are the users themselves. This is critical for the sustainability of the market. Lack of liquidity leads to significant delays and higher token exchange fees.

Moreover, significant demand or an attempt to exchange too much money on a decentralised exchange can cause fluctuations in token prices. And that will lead to failed transactions. This is why the liquidity pools have a slippage percentage for each pair of tokens. If, for example, the price of a token rises above 0.3% during an exchange, the transaction is cancelled.

A lower TVL in a dApp or blockchain means less monetary stability. This can lead to lower rewards for liquidity providers. And a deterioration in the overall state of the protocol.

How reliable is the information on TVL

If the market capitalisation of a dApp is greater than its TVL, the protocol is said to be overvalued. At the same time, if you divide the amount of capitalisation of a protocol by the amount of its TVL. And the ratio will be less than one, we can say that the protocol is undervalued. That said, the ratio of market capitalisation to TVL for DeFi services is often dynamic.

The market capitalisation depends on the price of the service’s native token multiplied by its total negotiable supply. For the Uniswap protocol, this token is the UNI control token. Its price is usually influenced by market hype, the listing of the token on exchanges. As well as protocol updates and other significant events.

Another factor that can distort TVL as an indicator of project value is the activity of so-called whales. These are investors or organisations that have significant capital at their disposal in crypto-assets. They are capable of increasing a project’s TVL with just one large deposit. Or conversely, collapse it if they decide to withdraw assets from the pools.

Our experts point out that it is worth paying attention to the total number of users of the protocol or blockchain in this regard.

Our experts assess the prospects for the Litecoin cryptocurrency and tell us what will drive its price up

In the current cryptocurrency market, Litecoin (LTC) looks attractive to buy. There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, the launch in the US of a new exchange for institutional investors, EDX Markets. In terms of funding, the exchange is backed by well-known professional participants such as Citadel Securities, Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Sequoia Capital and Virtu Financial. The exchange allows trading in a limited list of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

For example, if you look at Bitcoin Cash (BCH). You can see the reaction in just over a week has increased in value by 3 times.

A similar scenario can be expected from the cryptocurrency Litecoin (LTC). It is close to a yearly high. If we draw an analogy with BCH. After the upward breakout of a significant high, the upward trend began to accelerate.

Second, the continuing risk appetite on global stock platforms. A number of public companies have already fully recouped the decline of last year, and some even updated their historical highs.

Trade plan
Buy LTC after a breakdown of $106;
Risk of 10% of the capital;
Stop loss $96;
Take profit – $150.

Disclaimer:

Crypto-Upvotes does not provide investment advice. This material is for information purposes only. Cryptocurrency is a volatile asset that can lead to financial losses.

Bitcoin’s share of illicit cryptocurrency transactions has decreased significantly due to the emergence of many other networks. Scammers and hackers favor the TRON blockchain

$11.5 billion in various cryptocurrencies were lost by their owners in 2022. This happened as a result of hackers and scammers activity. TRM Labs, a smart blockchain solutions company, conducted a study and found. That the collapse in cryptocurrency prices since 2021 had no meaningful impact on the dollar volume of related crimes.

At least $7.8 billion was invested in pyramid schemes in 2022, according to TRM Labs. And $3.7 billion was stolen from hacks. Another $1.5 billion in digital assets was spent on the darknet, a marketplace specializing in the sale of illegal drugs, analysts said.

About $2 billion of the money stolen by hackers was stolen as a result of attacks on firewalls. And which allow the transfer of cryptocurrencies from one blockchain to another. Our experts point out that criminals are also increasingly resorting to such schemes to make it harder to track the movement of assets.

Recall that in 2016, two-thirds of stolen cryptocurrencies were in Bitcoin. And in 2022, it accounted for just under 3%. According to the report, Ethereum (68%) and Binance Smart Chain (19%) dominated.

And if in 2016 Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency used to finance terrorism. By 2022, it was almost completely replaced by TRON blockchain assets – their share was 92%, according to the report. This network became popular because of low fees. And that’s why most of the USDT stablecoin’s turnover occurs on TRON.

In May 2023 alone, hackers and fraudulent cryptoprojects stole $71 million in cryptocurrency. Also in early June, the biggest hack of the year occurred. A hacker stole over $100 million from Atomic Wallet cryptocurrency users.

Company Mastercard says its network will get a “level of programmability” similar to famous crypto-assets

Company Mastercard will begin pilot testing the Multi-Token Network (MTN) with tokenized bank deposits. The first trials will take place in the UK with a number of banks and financial institutions.

Selected banks and financial institutions will be given access to the MTN functionality to develop possible use cases for tokenized deposits.

Raj Damodaran, head of cryptocurrency and blockchain at Mastercard, expects That in the future the initiative will also extend to regulated Stablecoins and CBDC digital national currencies.

“Today, the catalyst for the movement of the global economy is regulated money in banks. We are starting to create tokenized bank deposits. The unit of money in the bank account acts as a digital asset in the blockchain, providing the same level of programmability as digital currencies in the crypto-ecosystem,” he explained in a comment for Coindesk.

In October 2022, Mastercard announced plans to become an intermediary for traditional financial institutions to trade cryptocurrencies. A Crypto Secure tool was also announced. And which will help banks to identify and prevent fraudulent transactions going through crypto exchanges.

Our experts note that earlier it became known that after September 25. The company Paysafe Payment Solutions will stop supporting payment services in euros for the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Users of the largest cryptocurrency will have to update bank details. And possibly agree to the new terms and conditions to continue using SEPA services.

Buying shares of four cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds will be available to users through official HSBC trading apps

The largest bank in Hong Kong, HSBC, has allowed customers to buy and sell shares of exchange-traded funds (ETF) for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Which are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. And becoming the first bank in Hong Kong to officially approve this service. And this was reported by journalist Colin Wu, citing internal bank documents. According to him, such a move will expand opportunities for local users to work with cryptocurrencies.

Several cryptocurrency ETFs are currently registered in Hong Kong. Such as CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF, CSOP Ethereum Futures ETF and Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF. They are all futures-based funds. And this approach differs from that of the fund of the American investment company BlackRock, which announced the launch of a spot ETF on bitcoin.

Bitcoin Trust and Spot Bitcoin ETFs are products that track the real price of Bitcoin. Their point is to give investors access to BTC through a regulated and familiar product. While not actually owning Bitcoin.

Futures-based exchange-traded funds differ from spot funds in that they offer investors access to futures contracts rather than to an asset.

When you buy units of a spot fund, unlike futures products, there is an actual purchase of Bitcoin in the market. If big players show interest in such a product, it may have an impact on the price of the asset.

At the same time, HSBC launched the Virtual Asset Investor Education Centre. Before trading, users will need to familiarize themselves with basic concepts. And information about the risks involved. The trading service will then be available to them on the HSBC HK Easy Invest app, HSB CHK Mobile Banking and through online banking.

Our experts noted that in 2022, the Hong Kong authorities have set a course to legalize retail transactions in digital currencies. As well as encouraging local licensed crypto-businesses. Also the launch of new assets, linked to the price of cryptocurrencies, on official trading platforms. In March of this year, it was reported that Hong Kong units of mainland Chinese banks. And are considering options to provide services to cryptocurrency companies amid tight restrictions from U.S. regulators.

Deutsche Bank plans to increase fee income through new services and product offerings related to digital assets

Deutsche Bank has applied to the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for a license to provide digital asset custody services, Bloomberg writes.

“We are growing our digital asset and custody business. We just applied to Bafin for a digital asset license,” David Lynn, Deutsche Bank’s head of corporate banking, said at a conference June 20.

The move is part of the bank’s strategy to boost fee income, Lynn said. It also reflects the efforts of Deutsche Bank’s investment arm, DWS Group. On increasing revenue from cryptocurrency-related products.

Our experts point out that Deutsche Bank can hardly be called a cryptocurrency-friendly bank. However, its customers could buy cryptocurrencies using their bank accounts or cards from appropriately licensed European cryptocurrency companies.

The bank itself did not provide cryptocurrency services due to the lack of legislation. And companies offering crypto services in Germany opened accounts with other organizations (such as Solaris Bank) for their activities.

The cryptocurrency storage service launched by Deutche Bank is the easiest in terms of IT and regulation. This is made possible by the adoption of Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations. Which opens the door for many financial institutions in the EU to provide crypto services.

Also the Council of Europe announced the adoption of new legal rules for the digital asset industry in the EU MiCA in mid-May. The rules oblige cryptoplatforms, such as exchanges and custodians (asset custodians), to be mandatorily registered in one of the bloc’s member countries.

WisdomTree, Invesco and Bitwise followed BlackRock’s lead and applied for permission to launch a spot exchange-traded BTC product (ETF)

Three major investment companies applied for Bitcoin-ETF following BlackRock. Following it, WisdomTree, Invesco and Bitwise applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for permission to launch a spot exchange-traded product based on the first cryptocurrency.

Asset manager WisdomTree is trying for the third time to get permission to create a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. On June 20, it applied to launch the new product on the Cboe BZX exchange under the ticker BTCW.

Another company, Invesco, which has $1.4 trillion in assets under management, also reapplied for a Bitcoin-based spot exchange-traded fund.

Bitwise, a cryptocurrency-focused asset management company, has applied for ETF approval from the SEC, taking its cue from BlackRock, according to Blockworks. It had already applied once before, in 2021, but the regulator rejected it in the summer of 2022.

In all, more than 30 attempts have been made by various companies to create a spot exchange-traded fund for Bitcoin. But all applications were rejected by regulators, who cited market problems and a lack of investor protection.

Despite the constant rejections, on June 15, iShares, a division of investment firm BlackRock. And which has about $9 trillion under management, filed paperwork to register the iShares Bitcoin Trust. This was the impetus for other major companies to once again try to launch Bitcoin exchange-traded products.

Our experts note that after WisdomTree, Invesco and Bitwise became known on the evening of June 20. BTC price began to rise.

A virus software that attacks dozens of crypto-applications, called Mystic Stealer, has spread on the web.

Mystic Stealer is a virus program. It costs $150 per month and targets 21 cryptocurrency applications. As well as 40 browsers, more than 50 cryptocurrency browser extensions and many other services and plugins.

Reports on Mystic Stealer, published almost simultaneously by cybersecurity companies InQuest, Zscaler and Cyfirma, warn of the spread of the new malware and its effectiveness.

The program is rapidly gaining popularity in the cybercriminal community and is increasingly being used in attacks, the experts warned.

Mystic Stealer released version 1.0 in April but had already been updated to version 1.2 by the end of May. The vendor advertised the new software on various hacker forums. While offering it on a subscription basis of $150 per month or $390 per quarter. The project also has a telegram channel where development news, software features and other topics are discussed.

When launched for the first time, Mystic collects information about the operating system and sends data to the attacker’s server. Then it already performs its specific tasks of looking for data stored in browsers (cookies) and applications.

The full list of services that the program hacks is given in the Zscaler and InQuest report. They include Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera browsers. As well as browser-based cryptocurrency wallets TronLink, BinanceChain, Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask and many others.

The Cyfirma report states that industry “veterans” have tested the effectiveness of the virus program and confirmed that the program has become a powerful tool for stealing information.

Our experts also note that Mystic’s developer banned the program’s use in CIS countries and added an exception for those regions to its code.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is creating a new class of platforms for cross-border and domestic payments in central banks’ digital currencies

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has begun developing an infrastructure for international central bank digital currency settlements (CBDC). A report released by the fund on June 19 said. That the new class of platforms is designed to ensure interoperability. As well as the efficiency and security of cross-border payments.

“Today’s new technologies allow the public sector to update cross-border payments infrastructure, and possibly domestic payments as well. <…> It’s about technology, but also about governance, which sets the “rules of the game”. This was stated by Tobias Adrian, head of the IMF Monetary System Department and one of the authors of the report, speaking at the IMF roundtable in Morocco before the publication of the document.

Trans-border payments are more complicated than domestic ones. Because they involve an exchange of value between parties located in different jurisdictions. And also subject to different laws, Adrian said. According to him, limited infrastructure makes international settlements expensive, slow and non-transparent. And the management of the existing system is “sporadic. And that leads to significant legal and operational costs.

According to the report, the IMF work on a new class of platforms is being done to speed things up. And also to make remittances between countries easier and cheaper. Experts are developing two types of platforms: for international settlements in CBDC and for domestic ones.

Trans-border settlements in tokens representing the reserves of member countries’ central banks will be provided by platforms called XC, according to an IMF report. They “create representations” of existing assets – reserves held by central banks, the authors explain.

Our experts note that another solution – CBDC platforms – is being developed to facilitate domestic payments in digital national currencies, both wholesale and retail. The report’s author emphasizes that such platforms will be supported by a strong regulatory framework.