Crypto News
Ethereum Faces ‘Intense’ Competition From Other Networks: JPMorgan
Ether (ETH) has underperformed other cryptocurrencies in recent months as the Ethereum blockchain has faced "intense" competition from other networks, Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report on Wednesday.The token lacks a compelling narrative like that of its larger peer bitcoin (BTC, the bank said, adding that bitcoin benefits from its perception as a store of value and as digital gold.Despite upgrades, such as Dencun, activity has shifted from the main Ethereum network to its layer 2's, which is detrimental to the blockchain's growth, the report said. The network's latest upgrade, Pectra, is likely to happen in early April."Competitive pressures have led some decentralized applications (dapps) to migrate from Ethereum to other application-specific chains for better performance,"...
Tornado Cash Developer Alexey Pertsev to Be Released From Jail to Prepare for Appeal
Alexey Pertsev, the Tornado Cash developer found guilty of money laundering in 2024, is set to be released from prison on Friday to prepare for his appeal, he said in a post on X. The 31-year old Russian national was sentenced to 64 months in a Dutch prison last May after an indictment said Pertsev had "a habit of committing money laundering" and should have suspected illicit transactions on the platform.Tornado Cash is a coin-mixing protocol that allows users to privately send tokens to another wallet. It achieves privacy by pooling funds together and shuffling them until the origin is unclear.The protocol is sanctioned by the U.S. government, which alleges that Tornado Cash was being used by North Korean hackers...
Crypto Platform Deribit Bars Russian Nationals Due to EU Sanctions
Deribit said that starting Feb. 17, Russian accounts will switch to “reduce-only” mode, and all positions will be forcibly closed by March 29, although withdrawals will remain open. Withdrawals to Remain Open Deribit, a cryptocurrency derivatives platform, announced Feb. 5 that European Union (EU) sanctions on Russia have forced it to exit the country. AccordingSource link
Cboe Files 19b-4 Proposals for Spot XRP ETFs, Initiating SEC Review
On Thursday, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) initiated a pivotal regulatory step by submitting 19b-4 filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on behalf of four prominent asset management entities—Bitwise, Wisdomtree, 21shares, and Canary Funds—to advance proposals for spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Cboe Files 19b-4 Proposals for XRP Trusts Fundamentally, aSource link
Bitcoin in a Mire, Gold Eyes 6th Straight Week of Gains as Jobs Data Looms
Bitcoin (BTC) continues to dawdle, failing to capture trader enthusiasm amid chatter about prices being overvalued, while gold remains strong ahead of the release of the U.S. jobs report, which will influence the Fed's rate plans.Recent analysis from CryptoQuant indicates that bitcoin's fair value lies between $48,000 and $95,000, highlighting that it appears overvalued at its current market price, which hovers just above $98,000. The analytics firm's Bitcoin's Network Activity Index has plummeted 15% from its peak in November to 3,760 points, the lowest level in over a year. The downturn is driven by a staggering 53% drop in daily transactions, which have fallen to 346,000 from September's all-time high of 734,000.Since its recovery from the slide early Monday, BTC...