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Investors get burnt, lose $1.6 billion in crypto within a day
Cryptocurrency
120 million XRP worth $76 million moved by a large entity
A large entity moved 119,999,980 XRP (75,551,782 USD) from an unknown wallet to Coinbase, a few hours ago.
The third most valuable crypto by market value, XRP has become the favourite of institutional investors lately, hinting that there may be more than meets the eyes.
Data, however, retrieved from Whale Alert revealed a large entity moved 119,999,980 XRP (75,551,782 USD) from an unknown wallet to Coinbase, a few hours ago.
READ: Buying signs: Ethereum’s total coin supply held off exchanges continues to rise
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 119,999,980 #XRP (75,551,782 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #Coinbase
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) December 3, 2020
- Wealthy crypto investors seem to be upping their game last quarter of, 2020, as regards moving XRP – the third most valuable crypto by market value, as lately seen by Nairametrics.
- Many crypto experts anticipate the movements of such crypto are coming from major stakeholders of Ripple, on the bias some of these wallets contain a significant amount of XRP.
READ: ValuAlliance distributes value fund of N10 per unit for H1, 2020
At the time of writing, XRP was trading at $0.628191 with a daily volume of $11 billion. XRP is up 1.16% in the last 24 hours, with a market capitalization of $28.5 billion. It has a circulating supply of 45,334,295,892 XRP coins and a maximum supply of 100,000,000,000 XRP coins.
What you should know: Ripple is a privately-held fintech company that provides a global payment solution via its patented payment network called Ripple Network (also known as RippleNet).
READ: Nigeria’s non-oil exports increase by 100%
XRP still remains the only crypto gaining traction among global banks as Japan-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, with assets of more than USD 2.8 trillion, announced in November 2018 that, in cooperation with Ripple, it would provide an international money transfer service on the payment corridor from Japan to Brazil
READ: Tether opens up 300,000,000 USDT
Why are whales buying?
Economic historian, Barry Eichengreen, gave a detailed analysis of why cryptos should not just be considered for speculative reasons, as leading crypto assets have shown characteristics of being tangible assets.
“I don’t think that thinking about crypto as speculative investments, is really a long-term viable business model. Speculative investments have come and gone throughout history. Tulips came as a speculative investment and they went. Digital assets that provide actual tangible services like cross-border payments are the ones that are likely to have legs,” Eichengreen said.
READ: Ripple suffers highest day percentage loss since September 3
Barry went on to explain why crypto has become the new digital gold.
He said, “Gold doesn’t really have any intrinsic value. People [believe] it will hold its value because other people value it. There is, from that point-of-view, a parallel with cryptocurrencies. People pay actual U.S. dollars for it because they think other people will value it and pay actual U.S. dollars for it.”
READ: Whales are buying XRP, Ripple becomes world’s 3rd most valuable crypto
Explore Research Grade Data on the Nairametrics Research Website
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin posts biggest daily drop since market crash of March 2020
Some crypto experts anticipate such losses are coming from widespread profit-taking by U.S. and European investors.
The flagship crypto, Bitcoin, suffered massive losses in the early hours of Friday, as almost all the gains recorded in 2021 vanished into thin air, thus posting its largest daily drop since the market crash of March 2020.
- Some crypto experts posit that such losses are coming from widespread profit-taking by U.S. and European investors, and that worries about extra regulation has driven the crypto asset toward a weekly loss of more than 25%.
- Top-rated crypto assets like Ethereum plunged by almost 16%, while Chainlink also recorded double-digit percentage losses.
READ: Finance leaders of G7 countries strongly support crypto regulation
Also weighing on prevailing market conditions seen across the crypto-verse, data retrieved from Glassnode, a crypto analytic firm, reveal bitcoin $BTC Supply in Profit (1d MA) just reached a 3-month low of 16,899,766.137 BTC.
The previous 3-month low of 16,903,691.779 BTC was observed on 11 December, 2020
📉 #Bitcoin $BTC Supply in Profit (1d MA) just reached a 3-month low of 16,899,766.137 BTC
Previous 3-month low of 16,903,691.779 BTC was observed on 11 December 2020
View metric:https://t.co/FzSS3snpDH pic.twitter.com/ODVjtiOvag
— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) January 21, 2021
What this means: Consequently, Jesse Cohen, a senior crypto analyst, in a note to Nairametrics, spoke on the outlook for Bitcoin in 2021.
READ: Bitcoin’s market value now $468 billion, bigger than GDP of Africa’s largest economy
“I expect Bitcoin to remain highly volatile to the downside in the new year, given the potential for more scrutiny and tighter regulation. That should see prices fall back from their record highs, with the prospect of increased regulation being the most important factor affecting Bitcoin in 2021.”
However, as it gained more than 300% in 2020, many crypto experts wonder if BTC can continue such rally this year.
The prevailing market condition at the crypto market led to heavy losses of global investors’ funds, when roughly $1.6 billion worth of crypto positions evaporated into thin air within a day.
The mass liquidation of such crypto holdings, according to data retrieved from Bybt, showed that such occurred before the flagship crypto dipped from $34,300 to around $29,700 at press time.
READ: Everything you need to know about Crypto Trading
For the day, about 192,005 crypto traders got liquidated.
The global crypto market value at press time was around $842.75B, a 16.40% decrease over the previous day.
- Total crypto market volume for the day stood at $169 billion, which makes a 12.17% increase.
- Total volume in DeFi is currently $14.53 billion, 8.61% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume.
- The volume of all stable coins is now $140.71B, which is 83.36% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume.
- The flagship crypto traded at $29,196.15.
- Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 64.77%, an increase of 0.16% over the day
READ: Stellar defying gravity, gains 103%
What this means: Record sell-offs have pushed Bitcoin’s year-to-date gains below 1%. The record sell-off in the crypto market is likely due to widespread profit-taking by U.S. and European investors.
Some days ago, the leading United Kingdom financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, issued a piece of stern advice on crypto investments.
READ: Crypto traders suffer heavy losses of $639 million within a day
The statement highlighted the risks associated with investing in Bitcoin and other crypto assets, and warned the public that there were high chances that all their funds could be lost.
“The FCA is aware that some firms are offering investments in crypto assets or lending or investments linked to crypto assets, that promise high returns.
READ: Litecoin displaces XRP as 4th most valuable crypto
“Investing in crypto assets, or investments and lending linked to them generally involves taking very high risks with investors’ money. If consumers invest in these types of products, they should be prepared to lose all their money.”
Cryptocurrency
Ex-Real Madrid Striker, David Barral becomes first-ever footballer to be bought with Bitcoin
Former Real Madrid Striker, David Barral has become the first-ever footballer to be bought with Bitcoin.
Former Real Madrid striker, David Barral, makes transfer history as he became the first-ever professional player to be bought solely with virtual currency, Bitcoin.
Spanish third division side, DUX Internacional de Madrid, simply known as Inter Madrid, has officially signed the 37-year-old after teaming up with their new sponsors, Criptan that deals in cryptocurrency, The SUN reports.
Inter Madrid who are part of DUX gaming, eSports club owned by footballers Borja Iglesias and Real Madrid star, Thibaut Courtois, is yet to disclose the total value of the deal.
READ: Football: AC Milan announces loss of €195million
The Segunda Division B club went to Twitter to welcome their new signing and thank their sponsor.
“David Barral new player of DUX Internacional de Madrid, welcome to the infinite club! He becomes the first signing in history in cryptocurrencies. Thanks to Criptan, our new sponsor, for making it possible,” the club tweeted.
The 37-year-old, who made over 50 appearances playing in the Real Madrid reserve side, expressed his delight at his latest move. Barral has also played for Spanish La Liga clubs Sporting Gijon, Levante, and Racing Santander.
“Glad to join the project of @interdemadrid with eager ambition and responsibility to continue competing and achieve important challenges in my sports career,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.
READ: Real Madrid leapfrogs others to emerge the world’s most valuable football club
What you should know
- A similar deal was when a Harunustaspor, Turkish amateur side, paid 0.0524 Bitcoin (£385) plus 2,500 Turkish Lira in cash (£841) for Omer Faruk Kıroğlu in 2018.
- Back in December, Carolina Panthers offensive tackle Russell Okung became the first high-profile athlete in the United States to be paid in bitcoin.
- Similarly, the Mark Cuban-owned Dallas Mavericks became the second NBA franchise to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for both game tickets and merchandise.
