Bitcoin and Ethereum showed growth for the first time after a sharp drop in late January

The bitcoin (BTC) exchange rate rose by 4% on February 8. And rising at the moment to $44,733 in a pair to the Tether USD (USDT) stablecoin on the Binance exchange. Our experts note that BTC last traded above $44,000 on January 24.

The second largest cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH) also updated its two-week high at $2.44 thousand, adding more than 3% to its price over the day. The current year’s high for Ethereum was reached on January 12 at $2719 amid investors’ expectations of U.S. regulators’ approval of spot ETFs for Ethereum. And applications for which were submitted by BlackRock, Grayscale and Fidelity Investments.

Now the jump in the price of ETH also came amid the filing of an updated joint ETF application from 21 Shares and Ark Invest, managed by Katie Wood. The document, in particular, updated data on the redemption mechanism for units of the future ETF. And information about the possibility of placing the fund’s coins in staking in external services.

The latter fact caused a sharp growth of tokens of staking services. Thus, the rate of LDO token from the largest staking service Lido jumped by 7% at the moment. And when news of Ark Invest’s updated bid hit the terminals. LDO is among the top 40 largest crypto assets by capitalization with a market cap of over $2.5 billion. According to the official website, Lido hosts $23 billion worth of ETH coins at the current exchange rate.

Other coins from the top 10 by capitalization also rose in price over the past 24 hours. The Solana (SOL) token rose more than 6% over the day, while BNB from Binance, Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Ripple’s XRP rose in price by 3 to 9%.

Our experts talked about trends in the staking cryptocurrency niche after the Shapella update and its impact on cryptoasset prices

The price of Ethereum cryptocurrency (ETH) crossed the $2,000 mark for the first time since August 2022. After a major blockchain update of the second largest cryptocurrency took place. And fears of a massive outflow of funds from the network were not confirmed. Since the beginning of the year, the coin has grown by more than 60%.

The fears of many market participants were not justified

The April 13 update to the Ethereum blockchain, working title Shanghai. Which was made as part of the Shapella update group gave investors the opportunity to withdraw coins on a first-come, first-served basis. Which they placed as collateral in a special Beacon Chain smart contract, launched back in 2020. This gives them the status of a transaction validator on the network and allows them to be rewarded by issuing new coins, a process called staking.

Accumulated rewards also became available for withdrawal to the wallets. According to the analytical service Nansen, in the first 12 hours after the activation of the update, investors withdrew only 0.3% of the 18 million ETH. Which were placed in the contract for staking.

Contrary to the fears of many market participants, the rate of ETH tested $2,000. It’s safe to say that traders and investors took the update positively. The possibility of withdrawal of coins [from staking] is limited. As it can put pressure on the price.

Only 43.2 thousand ETH can be unlocked in a day. About 170 ths ETH will be sold at market price in the near future. But even if coins will be withdrawn at the maximum allowed limit per day. That figure would fit into the average ETH inflow to the exchanges and would not critically affect the price of the coin. It’s important to understand that many validators are just now starting to test the new feature. And they are withdrawing exactly the earned funds and not the deposit of 32 ETH. Accordingly, they plan to validate transactions further, our experts explain.

What will happen to the price of ETH in the next week

According to Coin Metrics analyst company, about 1.2 million ETH are expected to be withdrawn from staking in the next five days. Which is equivalent to about $2.3 billion at current prices. About $36.7 billion in Ethereum coins remain in the Beacon Chain.

The price of ETH could experience fluctuations in the coming weeks. As some investors will rush to withdraw coins and sell them. But those who were not ready to freeze their assets before. Then now on the contrary, may decide to place coins in a smart contract. Most likely, the upgrade of the network in the medium to long term will lead to the growth of ETH exchange rate. But before that, a period of increased volatility is possible, our experts say.

Staking as a service

Self-staking Ethereum involves setting up equipment. And mandatory minimum deposit of 32 ETH. But even more private investors use stacking services on cryptocurrency exchanges. And decentralized platforms that provide the service of so-called liquid staking.

In this case, exchanges or services act as a validator. Which pools users’ funds into a single pool with a user-friendly interface. And also with the reward for staking in proportion to their investment. The largest staking platform Lido. At the same time, being a validator, manages about 31% of all ETH in staking. Binance, Coinbase and Kraken crypto exchanges are also in the top five largest validators.

Staking from crypto exchanges

The main advantage of staking services from exchanges is simplicity. The user does not need to understand the intricacies. The user only has to press a couple of buttons and be assured that staking works. Interest payments are made by the exchanger. And it also takes the rights and responsibilities. If there are any difficulties, you can write to the support service and get an answer in a short time. This is always suitable for beginners. That is why the popularity of staking through exchanges or platforms will not suffer much from Ethereum updates.

The possibility of unlocking coins is unlikely to have much effect on the popularity of staking services. Their target audience is not so much those investors who were not ready to freeze their assets. But those who simply don’t have 32 ETH to place in a smart contract. The demand for the service, even if it falls, is insignificant, our experts say.

Kraken leads in the number of applications to withdraw coins from staking. The U.S. exchange accounts for more than 86% of the total amount of ETH. Which are now “in line” for withdrawal. The exchange was forced to stop its staking service in the U.S. and pay a $30 million fine when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recognized its staking service as the equivalent of illegal sales of securities. Because of such bans in the U.S., it is the decentralized platforms where coins will be put. The use of which the SEC will not be able to prohibit technically.

Staking on decentralized platforms

Decentralized liquid staking services allow you to invest in staking coins from Ethereum and other blockchains. Which work on the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm. And receive derivative tokens of equal value in return. Which are also traded on cryptocurrency exchanges. And can be used for additional earning strategies. Examples of such platforms include Lido, Rocket Pool, Stakewise, and others. Many of them issue their own tokens. Which give you the right to vote in DAOs or get discounts on fees for services.

Our Crypto Upvotes experts point out that the investment appeal of such platforms’ tokens depends not only on the set of their services. But also their overall marketing performance, turnover and trends in the market. Some platforms don’t have a token. But this does not prevent them from attracting users. For example, stake.fish is popular due to the experience and reputation of the f2pool behind it. It is a well-known brand in the niche of mining pools.

Tokens of the largest staking platforms also benefited from the successful Ethereum update. The tokens of Lido (LDO), Rocket Pool (RPL) and Stakewise (SWISE) showed growth of 6-7%.

Cryptocurrency platforms providing liquid staking services came in second place in DeFi sector by volume of funds sent to them

Staking platforms came in second in terms of funds in the DeFi sector, overtaking lending services. According to DeFi platform Llama, the volume of total blocked value (TVL). Liquid staking platforms exceeded $14 billion, while TVL in cryptocurrency lending protocols is about $13.7 billion.

Liquid staking, allows users to earn from Ethereum stacking without having to make a mandatory deposit of 32 ETH. Users can send any amount of ETH or other Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrency coins to staking. Users will receive tokenized versions of their assets in return. For example, in form of stETH token in a 1:1 ratio. The latter can be used in parallel to generate additional income in DeFi-protocols. At the same time, you will not lose earnings from staking assets in the liquid staking service.

Decentralized exchanges (DEX) lead in terms of funds on DeFi-platforms. TVL on them is $19.3 billion. However, this category includes 716 services. While the staking services whose data is collected by the analytics platform are 71.

Over the last month, TVL of just one stacking protocol Lido increased by $1 billion to $9.3 billion, while this figure for leading DEX is almost twice as low: Curve has $4.9 billion, Uniswap has $4.1 billion, and Pancakeswap has $2.5 billion.

On February 25, the Lido team noted that it recorded the largest daily inflow of funds amounting to more than 150,000 ETH (about $245 million). According to crypto analyst Lookonchain, these funds were contributed by Tron blockchain founder and Huobi exchange chief Justin Sun.

On February 27, cryptoprotocol specialists from 0xScope noted that Sun continues to contribute funds to stake on Lido. Additionally, he sent another 88,000 ETH (about $144 million) there.

Reasons for growth

Our experts point out that the influx of funds into liquid staking protocols is caused by the fact that the Ethereum network is scheduled to start updating Shanghai in April 2023. Which will allow to withdraw previously blocked funds in ETH from staking. After it was revealed in January that developers had decided to focus on this particular upgrade feature, staking platform token rates soared by dozens percent and continue to rise.

Also, the growth in popularity of DeFi-protocols from this category was promoted by rumors about the possible ban on staking in USA. There has been no official confirmation of this yet. But the major U.S. exchange Kraken in early February closed stakng for U.S. customers at the request of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

ENS registrar reported that more than 80% of all addresses appeared in the past year. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Last year, users registered more than 2.2 million addresses in the Ethereum Name System (ENS). This was reported by representatives of the ENS registrar in its official Twitter account. According to ENS Domains website, the number of .eth addresses exceeds 594,000.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum ecosystem, called ENS-domains the most successful application of NFT technology in an interview with WIRED.

An ENS domain is technically an NFT on a particular wallet. To make a transfer to this wallet, you can specify not its address in the usual format. And replace it with a conveniently readable address such as “vitalik.eth”. Such a wallet address can also be used for authorization in decentralized applications (dApps) and searches in blockchain browsers such as Etherscan.

Domains in the form of NFTs can be traded on leading marketplaces such as Looks Rare or OpenSea. However, the largest marketplace by volume is ENS.Vision, which specializes in ENS domains. According to the platform, the most expensive addresses were “333.eth” and “metaverse.eth,” sold for 100 and 99 ETH, respectively.

Domains are becoming a form of identification in the crypto community. And this provokes demand for short and easily recognizable addresses. Floor price for domains in the “999 Club” category, that is, three digit addresses consisting of numbers, is at 20.22 ETH.

A hacker took advantage of a vulnerability in OmniBridge protocol. Hacked and withdrew funds from it in new Ethereum PoW network tokens

The first hack of a smart contract in the new Ethereum PoW network brought a scammer 200 ETHW (about $1,000). Theft of funds was possible because OmniBridge protocol (a bridge to transfer funds between different blockchains) in PoW network. He received a second message about transaction already made in Ethereum network. This was reported on Twitter by BlockSec, a cybersecurity company.

On morning of September 15, The Merge update took place on Ethereum’s main network. It switched altcoin from Proof-of-Work protocol to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). The token of the old version of this network received symbol ETHW.

On September 18, a scammer transferred 200 WETH via the OmniBridge protocol of Ethereum blockchain to Gnosis network. And then he repeated the same transaction message on the new PoW blockchain. To get 200 ETHW from a copy of the OmniBridge smart contract on this network.

Our experts explained that this attack was made possible by a vulnerability in the OmniBridge smart contract. It uses an incorrect unique blockchain identifier. The OmniBridge smart contract mixed up the networks and mistakenly paid a scammer.

The Ethereum PoW network itself was not hacked. The stolen funds belonged to the OmniBridge protocol. However, our experts warn a crypto community. That similar attacks using PoW blockchain and ETHW tokens can happen to other interconnect bridges.

ETHW rate has been falling on centralized exchanges since the start of hardfork. But its price in the old version of the network rose on Friday September 16 to 16,400 USDT on decentralized exchanges.

SEC filed a lawsuit against Ian Balina, a famous member of cryptocurrency community. The lawsuit states that all Ethereum blockchain transactions take place in USA territory

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claims that transactions on Ethereum are made in United States. Because blockchain validators (network nodes) are clustered more tightly in the United States than in any other country. This claim was made in a lawsuit against famous member of cryptocurrency community Ian Balina.

The lawsuit was filed Monday, Sept. 19. Balina is accused of breaking law while promoting Sparkster Cryptocurrency ICO (SPRK) in 2018. Which raised about $30 million from 4,000 investors.

This is not the first time the agency has initiated such litigation. However, paragraph 69 of this lawsuit states : ” At that point, their ETH contributions were validated by a network of nodes on the Ethereum blockchain,
which are clustered more densely in the United States than in any other country. As a result, those
transactions took place in the United States.”

According to Etherscan, more than 46% of all Ethereum nodes are now operating in the US.

What this means for Ethereum

Our experts think that mentions of transaction processing by US-based nodes in a lawsuit against blogger Ian Balina. It can also be interpreted as the SEC  attempt to extend its jurisdiction over any transactions in Ethereum network according to geographical principle. And in the future, this could become a precedent and reinforce the current fears of transaction censorship. Which have arisen since sanctions were imposed on Tornado Cash mixer.

Following the Ethereum move to Proof-of-Stake. And given its high level of centralization, Coinbase, Kraken and Binance are estimated by Nansen to account for 30.25% of ETH blocked in stacking. The U.S. government could seriously consider bringing this space under its control.

In future case law, similar lawsuits from the SEC may await other cryptocurrencies. Which work on the Proof-of-Stake algorithm.

Our experts talked about chances of ETH becoming such an asset after the network update. As well as to what implications this may lead to

The migration of Ethereum from PoW (Proof-of-Work) to PoS (Proof-of-Stake) is complete. Among the possible threats is not only the loss of part of the community represented by miners. But also the risk of recognition of ETH as a security with stricter regulation.

Thus, head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler once again said. That vast majority of cryptocurrencies qualify as securities. And are subject to the relevant laws. Companies that conduct transactions in the cryptocurrency market. Are required to register with the SEC, just like other market brokers.

However, the position of the SEC has not been fully clarified. The agency has expressed its willingness to interact with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on this issue. Because control over virtual asset service providers (VASP) could be passed on to the second of these regulators. That, in turn, would lead to the recognition of leading cryptocurrencies as commodities.

Recognition of ETH as a security would be a disaster for ordinary users. If that happens, the token would likely face large fines. Which ETH may not survive. As well as delisting from 90% of centralized exchanges. This will cause irreparable damage to both user base. And also price, which is likely to go down sharply.

Specific coins that are being considered as candidates for recognition as securities include. Such as Ripple, Stellar (XLM), Zcash (ZEC) and Horizen (ZEN) could include Ethereum in the near future.

Probability of recognition of ETH as a security

Recognition of Ethereum as a security seems unlikely. However, after moving to Proof-of-Stake algorithm, chances for recognition of such status can definitely become higher.

Our experts explain that Howey Test serves this purpose. According to this test, an investment contract is “an investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profit solely from the efforts of others.” Regarding Ethereum, blockchain coins can be recognized as “money.” And a “common enterprise” is a system of validators in stacking. And the “expectation of profit” is rewards from stacking.

However, our experts pointed out that Ethereum still does not “risk” to move into the category of securities. SEC head Gary Gensler said he would support a bill that would give the CFTC a right to supervise BTC and ETH. In case such law is passed, ETH will actually receive a status of “exchange commodity” officially.

Also our experts say that on another hand, in this case all tokens on Proof-of-Stake can be considered as securities. And regulated in the same way as shares, which is unlikely.

EthereumPoW supporting mining concept will start working after main network upgrade

EthereumPoW (ETHW) team has announced plans to launch a blockchain. Which will support mining, within 24 hours after main Ethereum network moves to Proof-of-Stake protocol.

Ethereum update is expected to take place on September 15 and will mean the end of ETH mining. And part of participants support stacking concept proposed by developers. And the other part remains committed to a version of network based on mining.

EthereumPoW project was initiated by famous Chinese miner Chandler Guo. Who announced development of a hardfork back on July 27 of this year. This is not the first time he has supported the preservation of old Ethereum. In 2016, when hardfork resulted in Ethereum Classic (ETC). And here as well, Chinese miner was the main supporter of its creation.

At the time of launch, EtherumPow will make public final code, program files, system configuration, node data, and other information about the blockchain. EthereumPoW will first launch 2048 empty blocks. This will ensure a successful switch to new network. And prevent duplicate blocks on ETH and on ETHW.

Some crypto exchanges have already supported PoW trading of Ethereum tokens. Poloniex and MEXC have announced launching ETHS and ETHW trading. And BitMEX has launched a futures product based on ETHPoW tokens.

DAXA Alliance, which includes leading Korean crypto exchanges Upbit, Gopax, Bithumb, Coineone and Korbit. They also announced support for PoW version of Ethereum after blockchain update.

“The Merge” update – this update will mean the merger of Beacon Chain and the main Ethereum network. Which are currently operating separately from each other. This will end the use of Proof-of-work algorithms in Ethereum. And will start era of new Ethereum technology based on Proof-of-Stake technology.

Five of Korean largest crypto exchanges, united in DAXA alliance. Decided to support Merger of Ethereum and airdrop new tokens

DAXA alliance, which includes leading Korean cryptocurrency exchanges. Announced support for PoW version of Ethereum after blockchain update, decenter.kr reported. Platforms are considering listing and delisting the new asset, as well as its airdrop.

DAXA alliance, created in June this year, united 5 largest South Korean exchanges: Upbit, Gopax, Bithumb, Coineone and Korbit. So far, apart from a statement of support, no action has been taken. But our sources confirmed that the exchanges will try to avoid loss of assets by their customers.

Updating Ethereum blockchain will consist of two phases. The first will be an update called Bellatrix, which began on September 6. If it is successful, “Paris” update will be launched. As a result of this update, a split (hardfork) of network is possible. ETH could split into PoS-version (new) and PoW-version (old). If this happens, two Ethereum tokens will arise, for each version of their network.

Earlier, other crypto exchanges have already supported trading in such tokens. Poloniex and MEXC announced launching ETHS and ETHW trading. And BitMEX has launched a futures product based on ETHPoW tokens. Binance also announced that it will consider supporting new Ethereum tokens.

Currently, Ethereum network is facing a problem after a Bellatrix update. Blockchain has seen a noticeable spike in the “number of missed blocks” – the rate at which network does not process blocks of transactions assigned for verification. That rate has increased by about 1,700%. Before this update, this rate was about 0.5%. And after Bellatrix, it jumped to 9%.

Binance announces measures to protect customer funds in case of ETH network hardfork

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance will suspend withdrawals and deposits of ETH and ERC-20 tokens during the “Merger” (blockchain’s migration to Proof-of-Work protocol). In an official announcement, platform team announced measures. Which will be taken to minimize trading risks. And to protect customer funds in case of a split network and the emergence of a second Ethereum token.

Deposit and token withdrawal transactions will be suspended on the platform on September 6 during the Bellatrix update. And also on September 15 during the Paris update. The exchange will suspend Binance Crypto Loans. As well as ETH margin borrowings between September 14 and 16.

Spot trading of ETH and ERC-20 will not be affected during Ethereum update. However, Binance has drawn attention to the risk of increased volatility in the event of a hardfork. And reserved the right to suspend margin trading.

In the case of network splitting and new ETH token emergence. Binance will use ETH ticker for PoS Ethereum chain. Withdrawals for another version of token will be supported. But distribution details will be covered in a separate announcement.

Coinbase will suspend Ethereum operations during the “Merger” of network

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced in its blog. That new deposit and withdrawal transactions in ETH and ERC-20 tokens will be temporarily suspended on Coinbase during Ethereum Merge (blockchain update). Transactions launched before the suspension will also be temporarily delayed.

Coinbase team stated that this will be done as a precautionary measure. To ensure that customer funds are protected. Once the update is complete, processing of suspended transactions will be restarted.

“Merger” is tentatively scheduled for September 15. Customers of Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Exchange services may encounter delays in withdrawals. That’s why Exchange recommends customers to withdraw funds in advance, if necessary.

Users of Coinbase Wallet with ETH and ERC-20 tokens. As well as NFT or DeFi products of Ethereum network, this update should not affect them.

Our experts recommend withdrawing the necessary funds from CEX exchanges in advance. Or convert them to other cryptocurrencies at the time of ETH network update.