Elon Musk will take over as CTO, focusing among other things on the integration of payments into this social network

Elon Musk will leave the post of CEO of Twitter. He announced this in his account on the social network. He has been Twitter’s CEO since the social network’s $44 billion acquisition in 2022.

Musk uses Twitter’s polling interface to get followers’ opinions on the social network’s various policies. Late last year, he launched a poll about whether he should resign as head of the service. By a relatively small margin, most of the votes were positive. Musk joked that he would leave when he “found some crazy person” to replace him. And then he himself will move to the development team.

That “madman” eventually became Linda Yaccarino, head of advertising at NBCUniversal, which owns a network of TV channels and several movie studios. Musk specified that she would start working “in about half a month.” He himself will take over as chairman and CTO of Twitter.

Integration of cryptocurrencies into Twitter social network interface, opinions of Crypto-Upvotes experts

Judging by the history of Musk’s statements, he really does not give up hope of integrating cryptocurrencies into the interface of the social network Twitter. If we take into account his previous global goals to develop a “super-application” X (similar to China’s WeChat). Then it is possible to assume the creation of some ecosystem with internal support of cryptocurrencies. And of which Twitter would be a part, our expert thinks.

But if we consider Twitter separately, at the initial stage Musk could introduce a function of sending money through personal messages. And paying for subscriptions to paid content or Twitter Blue status for cryptocurrency. Any kind of coin could be suitable for these purposes. And so Bitcoin and Dogecoin (DOGE) could potentially benefit from such integration.
Introduction of a payment function in Twitter is one of Musk’s key objectives, according to our experts.
In their opinion, it will turn the social network into a more predictable and stable source of income. It will also add features which are absent in other social networks. And by doing so, it will attract new users and make the social network a more profitable asset in Musk’s portfolio.

Technically, the integration of cryptopayments into Twitter could be done in partnership with a third-party cryptocurrency company. For example, Coinbase, which already has a developed infrastructure – wallets, exchange, business solutions and payment gateways.

Or another option – Musk will buy a payment gateway operator. In any case, the main task is not just to introduce cryptocurrencies. But to allow those who don’t have them to conveniently buy cryptocurrencies and just as conveniently spend them within the social network.

Despite Musk’s plans, the likelihood of introducing cryptocurrencies is still in question. Because of the “witch hunt” by the U.S. regulators, which has already provoked many large cryptocurrency companies to leave for other jurisdictions. Perhaps one of the tasks of the new CEO will be to find a way to find legal loopholes for the safe introduction of cryptocurrencies into Twitter, but this is just our guess.

Influence on cryptocurrency prices

As the head of Twitter, Musk organically joined the cryptocurrency community. Which settled on the platform at the stage of crypto-business birth. Musk participates in Twitter Spaces broadcasts with opinion leaders from the cryptosphere and comments on high-profile news in his personal account.

It’s not uncommon for Musk’s tweets to cause significant spikes in the price of crypto-assets. Which he mentions to them directly or indirectly. The most popular of these is Dogecoin (DOGE). In his May 2021 tweet, Musk said he was working with the developers of Dogecoin to make the system more efficient. This immediately led to a 22% increase in the Dogecoin exchange rate.

In December of that year, DOGE jumped 33%. When Musk announced that electric car maker Tesla would begin accepting the coin as payment for goods at its online store. Typically, such price spikes are fleeting as traders and automated bots start buying up tokens. Which were mentioned by Musk within seconds of his comments on Twitter. And to quickly sell them at a profit afterwards.

Musk gained a reputation as an influencer in the cryptocurrency community long before he bought Twitter. The change of position, will not have a negative impact on this reputation according to our experts. Rather, we can expect a positive impact, as the position of CTO is “more in line with Musk’s role as an eccentric innovator.

Insider who pleaded guilty in a case related to cryptocurrency trading on Coinbase. He and his partners made $1.5 million by buying tokens before listing them on the cryptocurrency exchange

Former Coinbase manager Ishaan Wahi was sentenced to two years in prison for insider trading in cryptocurrencies, Reuters reports. The charge against him was filed last July. And last February, he pleaded guilty and was named in court as the first insider. Who pleaded guilty in a case involving cryptocurrency trading.

While working at Coinbase from June 2021 until April 2022, Wahi provided his brother Nikhil and their acquaintance Samir Ramani with confidential information. This information contained data about cryptocurrencies scheduled to be listed on this exchange.

Based on the information received from Ishaan Wahi, Nikhil Wahi and Ramani worked together to trade 55 different crypto-assets shortly before their listing on Coinbase. The scammers were able to make about $1.5 million from this.

Ishan and Nikhil Wahi were arrested on July 21; Samir Ramani was not reported to have been arrested. Nikhil Wahi pleaded guilty last September. And earlier this year, he was sentenced to ten months in prison.

At the May 9 court hearing, Wahi said he made a huge mistake “that will haunt him for the rest of his life.” At the same time, the assistant prosecutor noted that Wahi’s behavior was not a one-time mistake, his actions were committed over the course of ten months at Coinbase.

Our experts note that the prosecutors insisted that the defendant be imprisoned for more than three years. And the defense asked the court to sentence him no harsher than that of Nikhil Wahi. Judge Loretta Preska eventually sentenced Nikhil Wahi to two years in prison. He will now be sent to Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution in New Jersey.

Crypto-Upvotes experts reviewed the prospects of cryptocurrency BNB and told what will lead to an increase in its price

BNB is a cryptocurrency that supports the Binance Chain ecosystem. BNB is one of the most popular utility tokens in the world.

The token is a key asset in the launchpad system (launchpad, a platform for launching initial offerings of tokens) and sales on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which directly affects its value.

The need to keep the token on balance encourages those wishing to participate in exchange events to buy.

In terms of technical analysis, we have seen a very technical nudge towards the $325-340 level for a year now.

The “rising triangle” pattern generally warns traders of an impulsive upward price breakout soon. The pattern is characterized by ” pressing up” prices from below. The maximums remain at the same level. And minima increase, “pressing” the price to the upper boundary. This is followed by an impulsive upward price breakout and destruction of the counter resistance.

Chart BNB

The rising lows marked on the chart at $180, $225, $265 and $320 technically form an upward movement. In our opinion, the price is in the final point and the exit from which could provoke its rapid growth.

The smaller timeframe also suggests a local uptrend, which allows you to enter the trade with a small stop loss.

Trading plan:

Buy BNB/USDT at $317.
Risk: 10% of capital.
Stop loss: $300.
Take profit: $457.

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.

Abnormal demand for TUSD Stablecoin supported by the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance led to the growth of its rate above $1. And opened up non-standard opportunities for earnings

High demand for TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin led to the fact. At the moment, its rate exceeded $1 by 20%. This was used by cryptocurrency traders. Who played on the decrease of stablecoin. At the same time, expecting its return to parity with the dollar soon. Massive borrowing of TUSD in decentralized credit services led to a high growth of their interest rates.

TUSD’s share of the most capitalized stablecoin is skyrocketing. And largely thanks to the support of the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The coin is ranked 29th by CoinMarketCap among all existing crypto-assets. Its market capitalization rose to $2.4 billion this week, though it was still at $755 million at the end of 2022.

Stablecoin was relatively unpopular until Binance eliminated trading commissions in the BTC/TUSD pair. From May 1 to May 2, abnormal demand for Stablecoin led to its decoupling from the dollar exchange rate (called depreciation). But if decoupling from the dollar for stablecoins usually implies a drop in the exchange rate. That’s what happened with the USDC during the Sillion Valley Bank crash in March. TUSD, on the other hand, was momentarily trading at a premium, hitting a high of $1.20.

How traders made money

The BTC/TUSD pair on Binance is now one of the largest trading pairs by volume in the entire industry. TUSD’s liquidity is not keeping up with its volumes. Which makes such a depeg more likely.

Traders have been using the decentralized Aave and Compound credit protocols. To borrow large amounts in TUSD. And quickly exchanged them for USDC, another stablecoin with a link to the U.S. dollar.

Aave and Compound are decentralized lending and borrowing protocols running on the Ethereum blockchain. Users of both can lend or borrow cryptoassets without intermediaries, using both stable and variable interest rates.

The most common strategy was to borrow TUSD and then exchange it for USDC. Which allowed us to effectively “short” TUSD from its increased price. However, neither Aave nor Compound has such large volumes of TUSD. Because of this, borrowing rates rose quickly, exceeding 100% per annum in both protocols.

TUSD demand rises

Speculation in the loan protocols is not the only reason for the increased demand for TUSD stablecoin. Our experts note that Binance has placed the highly popular SUI token on its Launchpool platform. At the same time, it gave users the opportunity to place BNB coins or TUSD stablecoins in staking, receiving income in the form of SUI tokens. Amid strong excitement, investors placed $4 billion worth of assets on the platform, with $770 million of that coming from TUSD.

Executives and investors of Coinbase, the second largest cryptocurrency exchange, are accused of selling $2.9 billion worth of shares. Which they did before the publication of negative information, which influenced the collapse of prices. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

The head of Coinbase, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Brian Armstrong. As well as its board member Mark Andriessen and other company officials avoided more than $1 billion in losses while using insider information, according to a lawsuit filed by one of the company’s investors.

He estimated that they sold Coinbase (COIN) stock within days of the cryptocurrency platform’s public offering two years ago. In doing so, knowing of “bad news” that would affect the further collapse of quotations.

The company’s board of directors conducted a so-called direct listing. Instead of a typical initial public offering and quickly sold off $2.9 billion worth of stock before Coinbase management disclosed “significant negative information. Which negated the market’s optimism after the company’s first quarterly earnings report. said in a complaint filed in Delaware state court.

“In five weeks, the value of these shares fell by more than $1 billion. And Coinbase’s market capitalization fell by more than $37 billion,” claims Adam Grabski, speaking on behalf of investors. He says he has held Coinbase stock since April 2021.

Armstrong sold $291.8 million worth of Coinbase stock in a direct listing. Says the complaint, and Andrissen’s venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, sold $118.6 million worth of stock.

“As the most popular and only publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. We are sometimes the subject of bizarre litigation,” Coinbase representatives wrote in a commentary for Bloomberg.

The lawsuit lists the main beneficiaries of the stock sale. Among them are Andreessen Horowitz Group (sold $118.6 million worth of stock) and CEO Brian Armstrong (sold for $291.9 million). As well as COO Emily Choi (sold for $223.9 million), co-founder and board member Fred Ehrsam (sold for $219.4 million) and others.

Union Square Ventures, an investment firm owned by Fred Ehrsam, sold $1.8 billion worth of stock. According to the lawsuit, the company led the Series A funding round for Coinbase. In doing so, it invested $5 million at 20 cents a share, valuing the company at about $20 million. The stock sale was “the largest exit in the firm’s history,” Grabski claims.

Trading volume were boosted by trend events, such as the rise of “Chinese” coins. And also etherium Arbitrum, led to an increase in cryptocurrency trading activity

In the first quarter of 2023, the total trading volume of the 15 largest exchanges reached $10.8 trillion, with an increase of more than 40% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. This is stated in the report of the analytical platform TokenInsight.

Changes in trading volume and market share of exchanges. These are parameters that directly indicate the rise or fall of the crypto industry. Bitcoin’s price recovery in the first quarter of the year was the most important factor. Which caused an active increase in trading volume.

Binance still holds the largest market share with 55% of trading volume. This is despite a slight decline in its share – it was 60% in the fourth quarter of 2022. OKX and Bybit, as at the end of last year, occupy the second and third places, respectively.

Spot trading volume on the top ten exchanges totaled $2.4 trillion between January and March, up 16% from the previous period. Derivatives trading volume on the top 10 exchanges totaled $7.8 trillion, up 30%.

In addition to the rise in the price of Bitcoin, many trending events occurred in the first quarter. For example, the growth of “Chinese” coins and the Arbitrum Airdrop (ARB). This led to increased activity in derivatives trading, according to our experts.

Binance, OKX and Bybit exchanges collectively accounted for 85% of the cryptocurrency derivatives market in the first quarter of this year.

The report also noted that most native crypto exchanges’ tokens closed the first quarter with an increase in price. Only LEO Token (LEO) from Bitfinex and HT from Huobi fell in price.

The only exchange token that outperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum in growth was BGB (Bitget exchange). And it was up 120%. The token Gate (GT) of the exchange Gate.io and OKB (OKB) from OKX rose in price by more than 50%.

In addition, our experts note that in early April it became known. That the monthly trading volume on decentralized exchanges renewed the maximum since May 2022. Rapid growth of cryptocurrency trading on DEX platforms began in March amid the bankruptcies of U.S. banks.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will issue a circular to banks to clarify account opening rules for cryptocurrency companies.

The Hong Kong regulator will explain how banks should conduct customer due diligence (CDD). The announcement was made by HKMA Deputy Executive Director Arthur Yuen.

Although the Hong Kong authorities actively support the development of the crypto-business. Then this industry is experiencing difficulties with access to banking services. But it is necessary for companies to store fiat assets, pay staff and pay suppliers.

The authority reviewed reports from industry participants that there may be difficulties with the account opening process and banks may reject applications. The HKMA then decided to explain to banks the rules for vetting customers. The regulator expects that crypto-service providers will be able to successfully open accounts using simple procedures.

The HKMA actively discussed the issue with banks and reminded them that there are no legal requirements. That prohibit Hong Kong banks from providing services to virtual asset (VA) related entities. The department also advised banks to avoid unnecessary processes. And refrain from adopting a “one-size-fits-all” approach to rejecting account applications.

On April 28, the HKMA and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will co-host a roundtable discussion for the banking industry and crypto-service providers. This is done to exchange views on account opening and other information.

Our experts note that as of June 1, a new regime will come into effect in the region. According to which all cryptocurrencies operating in Hong Kong or with local investors must obtain an SFC license. Many major crypto exchanges, such as Huobi, OKX and Bitget, have already applied for a license. Or have announced the establishment of a local licensed unit.

The inflow of funds into staking Ethereum exceeded 570 ths ETH in the last week. And that was maximum for the two and a half years that passed since the launch of this program

During the week from April 17 to April 23, 571.9 thousand ETH ($1.05 billion) were deposited in staking on the Ethereum network. And this was a record volume since the launch of the service two and a half years ago. According to data presented by 21Shares investment analyst Tom Wang on the Dune platform. The figure has only reached such close values twice – after the launch of staking in November 2020 (556,000 ETH) and in March 2022 (532,000 ETH).

On the night of April 12 to 13, the Shapella update was successfully activated on the Ethereum network. This, for the first time, allowed Ethereum owners who deposited coins in staking to withdraw all or part of their funds.

Users began actively withdrawing funds from staking, but also depositing. According to TokenUnlocks, a platform that tracks cryptocurrency unlocking information. By April 25, 1.6 million ETH (worth a total of $2.9 billion) had been withdrawn from staking since the fork (in 13 days). And 1.09 million ETH ($2 billion) had been deposited.

Most of the funds that are withdrawn are not the coins themselves, which were blocked when they were deposited. But the rewards in Ethereum earned by users for depositing assets. Validators must block exactly 32 ETH in order to open a node and receive rewards for keeping the network running.

Keeping the accumulated rewards in the node does not increase returns. Therefore, many validators withdraw the amount of rewards without touching the initially deposited 32 ETH. In order for the rewards to be profitable as well, they are withdrawn and re-run nodes with them.

Our experts note that since the Shapella update, five major institutional-level stacking service providers. These include – Bitcoin Suisse, Figment, Kiln, Stakefish and Staked.us – have staked a total of over 230k ETH ($425 million).

Curve protocol developers say that no one can forbid anyone to make deposits. And the platform code is unchangeable

A cryptocurrency hacker has become the leader among liquidity providers in Curve Finance’s DeFi-platform pool. In doing so, using the $160 million he stole from the Wintermute protocol.

Wintermute is a major cryptocurrency market maker, providing liquidity to more than 50 crypto platforms. Such as Binance, Kraken, Coinbase and many others were attacked in September 2022. Ninety different digital assets totaling about $160 million were withdrawn from the protocol.

The attacker placed the stolen funds in the Curve Finance trading pool. These assets now represent 28% of the roughly $400 million placed in Curve’s decentralized liquidity pool, Curve 3pool.

Curve is the largest decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) deployed on the Ethereum network. According to DeFiLlama, its Total Value Locked (TVL) is about $4.5 billion.

Also Curve allows users to trade digital assets without intermediaries. They trade tokens through liquidity pools. Another part of the users provides this liquidity, for which they are charged a commission.

The liquidity providers get a small commission every time someone uses the pool to exchange tokens. The Curve 3pool platform is focused on exchanging stablecoins Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC) and Dai (DAI).

Because the code of Curve protocol cannot be changed after its deployment in the Ethereum blockchain. Its creators have no control over who uses the protocol or provides liquidity in the pools.

Our experts point out that even the managers of the protocol cannot change the code where the funds are stored. DEX exchange officials also noted that it is impossible to disable protocol without completely shutting down the Ethereum blockchain.

African country’s authorities hope to stabilize the Zimbabwean dollar by issuing a new digital currency

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RZB) intends to introduce a digital currency. It will be backed by gold, according to local portal The Sunday Mail. It will be used as legal tender within the country. The authorities hope to stabilize the national currency – the Zimbabwean dollar (ZWL).

The tokens will be a form of electronic money. Which will be backed by the country’s gold, which is stored at the Central Bank. Holders of Zimbabwean dollars will be able to exchange them for tokens backed by gold. The regulator calculates that this will help people save in a highly volatile environment.

The value of Zimbabwe’s national currency is depreciating rapidly and has started to do so quite some time ago. The authorities have held several denominations. And since 2009, Zimbabwe, after a period of record hyperinflation in world history, withdrew its own currency from circulation. Instead of the Zimbabwean dollar began to use U.S. dollars. As well as GBP and the currencies of neighboring countries.

Since 2016, the country issued a quasi-currency – surrogate dollars, officially pegged to the U.S. dollar at a ratio of 1:1. And designed to compensate in the market a shortage of U.S. dollars and other currency circulating in the country. In 2019, the Central Bank of Zimbabwe announced that surrogate currencies would no longer be exchangeable at a 1:1 ratio to the U.S. dollar.

Other African countries

Our experts point out that Zimbabwe is not the first African country to struggle with inflation. And other money circulation problems through the introduction of digital currencies. A year and a half ago, Nigeria introduced the eNaira digital coin. In doing so, it tried to attract about 40 million people to use it. And to get a share of the multi-billion dollar remittance flows and increase the tax base.

One year after eNaira’s launch, only 0.5% of Nigerians have used it. To boost adoption of the coin, the country’s authorities tightened cash withdrawal limits at banks and ATMs at the end of 2022.