What’s happening in the crypto market? Is Bitcoin rising, or is crypto dying? Find answers to all these questions and more in our weekly crypto news round-up.
Is Binance Founder CZ Going to Jail?
In a recent development, Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has pleaded guilty to an 18-month sentence for violating the Bank Secrecy Act. However, according to a report made by The New York Times on November 21, there is still a possibility of a longer sentence. The crypto exchange platform Binance has also pleaded guilty to its own charges.
U.S. Attorney General Garland has pointed out that Binance’s policies have historically allowed individuals involved in illicit activities to move funds through the exchange. He criticized the exchange for its superficial compliance with U.S. federal laws, noting that it enabled certain users linked to illegal funds to have access despite its claims not to do so. As a result, Binance will now be subjected to stricter monitoring and reporting requirements, including filing reports for suspicious past transactions.
Garland commented on the situation, stating, “Binance prioritized its profits over the safety of the American people. Using new technology to break the law does not make you a disruptor — it makes you a criminal.”
In response to these events, Changpeng Zhao has acknowledged his mistakes and announced that he is stepping down as CEO of Binance. Richard Teng, the company’s global head of regional markets, will take over the role. The change in leadership marks a significant shift for the company amid these legal challenges.
What does this mean for the crypto market?
Binance is the biggest centralized exchange on the crypto market. It having issues — particularly regulatory ones — can cause overarching problems in the industry.
There has already been news of Binance seeing a $1B one-day net loss, according to data compiled on Dune Analytics. This isn’t particularly worrying in itself — this isn’t the first time the crypto exchange saw a loss like that. However, if losses continue or if more users choose to exit the platform, it could lead to increased market volatility.
When trying to analyze what this situation means to the crypto market, we can look at the FPX example. Although the infamous exchange was much smaller than Binance, its collapse caused a huge disruption in the crypto market and significantly affected crypto prices.
Cryptocurrency platforms cannot be bailed out by governments the same way banks or other traditional financial institutions can, so any disruption in their operations can prove to be fatal. However, I don’t think Binance is in danger — at least, not yet. It will take a lot more than a $1B loss to collapse it, and the platform isn’t being charged for mishandling user funds, so it is less likely to lose the trust of its users. In my opinion, one of the biggest concerns the platform will have in the near future is its direction and relations with investors following the departure of CZ.
Finally, this situation could prove to be a boon to DeFi — if regulators start paying closer attention to centralized exchanges, it can benefit DEXs, which do not rely on a single entity or leader.
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Bitcoin Halving Just 5 Months Away
We’re on the cusp of yet another Bitcoin halving! Halvings are always an exciting time in the industry, as they usually bring with them changes, and changes mean increased activity and thus price movements.
A Bitcoin halving is an event programmed into Bitcoin’s code that reduces the reward for mining new blocks by half. It happens approximately every four years, with the next one set to take place in April 2024. BTC halvings help control inflation and extend the network life by limiting the supply of new Bitcoins.
What does this mean for BTC price? Is Bitcoin going up?
According to the most basic law of economics, decreased supply leads to an increase in demand, which in turn leads to higher prices. Since Bitcoin halvings have almost always led to an increase in Bitcoin’s prices, this has been proven historically. Additionally, the crypto market thrives on hype, and the anticipation before the halving often boosts community and trading activity.
Of course, nothing is guaranteed, and outside influences such as the recent regulatory pressures can have a negative impact on the future price of Bitcoin. Still, many are optimistic. There are a lot of outlandish predictions out there, with some experts even expecting the world’s biggest cryptocurrency to go up by over 2,000%. Personally, I don’t think such a meteoric rise is likely — but the recent recovery of the crypto market that followed the previous crypto winter promises good things to come in the future.
Is Crypto Rising Again?
This past week has been good for the crypto market. In the top 100, several cryptocurrencies have had a resurgence. Uniswap (UNI) went up by 18%, the KuCoin Token (KCS) rose by over 26%, and Blur (BLUR) continued its rally with a 80% price increase over the last 7 days.
Although some of the bigger projects, namely Bitcoin and Ethereum, have been quiet this week, many experts see it as the calm before the storm. Bitcoin price charts continue to see higher highs, with momentum building towards $38K. Experts are comparing current market dynamics to those of early 2023 when Bitcoin shook off its winter blues and experienced price recovery.
Considering Bitcoin’s influence over the rest of the crypto market, we can see altcoin prices rise, too. However, there’s still a possibility that the breakpoints will not be achieved and bulls won’t be able to break through the resistance.
New Promising Cryptocurrencies in November 2024. What’s Trending on the Crypto Market?
Pyth Network is the latest trending cryptocurrency. The Solana-based token PYTH has recently been listed on several leading crypto exchanges and currently has a daily trading volume of over $220M. The oracle network announced an expansion to its already massive airdrop on November 16, bringing the total number of tokens to be distributed up to 255 million. The Pyth Network airdrop has already been released to its ecosystem users. The project has a lot of plans in the works, like a transition to its own blockchain, Pythnet.
The native token of the gaming network Merit Circle DAO has recently migrated from $MC to $BEAM. The BEAM token is used to pay for all transactions within the network, such as asset transfers, smart contract interactions, and more. It is also used as a governance token. BEAM is up 70% this past month. Although its initial rally has slowed down, investors are still bullish on it.
Bonk (BONK) is the latest addition to the long list of meme coins available on the market. Just like its older brothers Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and Pepe Coin, it has already managed to garner attention and support from its community: its daily trading volume is nearing $45M, and its price went up by over 30% over the last 7 days. Although the token was launched almost a year ago, it only started rallying in late October this year.
Disclaimer: Please note that the contents of this article are not financial or investing advice. The information provided in this article is the author’s opinion only and should not be considered as offering trading or investing recommendations. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information. The cryptocurrency market suffers from high volatility and occasional arbitrary movements. Any investor, trader, or regular crypto users should research multiple viewpoints and be familiar with all local regulations before committing to an investment.
