On May 30, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Ishan Wahi, the former Coinbase product manager, and his brother, Nikhil Wahi, had agreed to settle charges brought forth by the regulator accusing them of engaging in an insider trading scheme.

SEC Settlement With Former Coinbase Product Manager

In this way, the two defendants also agreed that their actions violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act. 

Accordingly, Ishan has been sentenced to two years in prison, while his brother, Nikhil, will serve ten months behind bars.

In a statement, the SEC also said the former Coinbase product manager forfeited 10.97 ETH and 9,440 USDT. On the other hand, Nikhil has submitted to the state 892,500 USDT. 

This is part of the settlement and forfeiture of securities the SEC said were ill-gotten.

The case was settled roughly a year after the SEC filed the suit at the District Court for the Western District of Washington, accusing the former Coinbase product manager of using confidential information to benefit from trading crypto assets, most of which, the regulator claims, were securities.

According to the Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Gurbir S. Grewal, their actions amounted to insider trading. Grewal stated:

While the technologies at issue, in this case, may be new, the conduct is not. We allege that Ishan and Nikhil Wahi, respectively, tipped and traded securities based on material nonpublic information, and that’s insider trading, pure and simple.

How Will The SEC Handle Ethereum?

While the SEC succeeded, questions are being asked about how the regulator will allow the forfeiture of those digital assets, including Ethereum, in a way that the regulator considers legal and lawful. 

Though there is an argument that all assets received from the two brothers will be forfeited to the Department of Justice (DoJ), some maintain that the SEC must first confirm receipt.

Recently, Gary Gensler, the chairman of the SEC, failed to clarify whether Ethereum, like Bitcoin, is a commodity that should be treated as a property and its capital gains tax.

While in front of the House Financial Services Committee, Gensler repeatedly said the agency was learning more about Ethereum. 

This didn’t help ETH since a clear endorsement from the SEC, the principal regulator, could lead to regulatory clarity, possibly driving prices and on-chain activity.

SEC’s position differs from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which classifies Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin as commodities, not securities.

Still, a statement from the SEC declaring ETH a commodity is much awaited by the community and could help prices. In late 2020, the SEC sued payment company Ripple and its executives, claiming XRP is an unregistered security. A ruling on this case is expected in the coming few months.

Source: News BTC
Original Post: Did The US SEC Just Endorse Ethereum After This Settlement?

XRP, one of the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, has been bullish since May 26th, outperforming most of the top 10 cryptocurrencies. This surge in price comes as investors have high expectations for the outcome of the ongoing SEC vs. Ripple Labs case.

XRP Shatters 2-Year Trendline

The recent uptrend in XRP is particularly significant as the cryptocurrency has just broken through a two-year trendline, a key technical indicator for traders and investors, according to the trader Jaydee.

Per the analysis of Jaydee, In 2017, XRP experienced a significant breakout when it surpassed a two-year trendline. This breakout led to a massive increase in value for the cryptocurrency, with XRP seeing a surge of 504x over just one year. This means that if an investor had purchased XRP at the start of 2017, they would have seen a return on investment of more than 50,000% by the end of the year.

If XRP were to experience a similar surge in value today, with the cryptocurrency currently trading at $0.5116, it could reach a value of $258 by 2024. However, it’s important to note that predicting future price movements in cryptocurrency markets is highly challenging, and many factors could impact the value of XRP.

For example, the ongoing SEC vs. Ripple Labs case could significantly impact the token’s future price movements. If the case is resolved in Ripple Labs’ favor, it could lead to increased adoption and investment in XRP. On the other hand, if the case is decided against Ripple Labs, it could lead to a decrease in demand for the cryptocurrency and a drop in its value.

However, Jaydee believes that the cryptocurrency will not experience a surge of 504x shortly. According to the analyst, XRP’s market cap is too high to support such a significant increase in value. The token has a market cap of over $26 billion, making it the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. 

Despite these uncertainties, many investors remain bullish on XRP’s prospects. The cryptocurrency has already seen significant adoption within the financial industry, with many major banks and payment processors using XRP for cross-border transactions. 

Key Indicators Point To Significant Growth Potential

According to the Average Sentiment Oscillator (ASO), the current set-up for XRP is highly bullish, with several key indicators pointing toward a strong upward trend in price. One key factor contributing to this bullish sentiment is the high volatility of XRP’s market depth, indicating significant interest and demand for the cryptocurrency. 

Additionally, the current trend’s strength is strong, with a bullish cross indicating that XRP is likely to continue its upward trajectory, per a recent analysis by Egrag Crypto. While XRP has been ascending in the price for almost four months, there is still a major resistance level known by Egrag as the ‘Final Wake Up Line’ that XRP has yet to break through.

However, even if the token experiences a minor correction after a 20% pump, there are still possible support levels at $0.4810 and $0.4277 that could prevent a significant drop in value, according to Egrag Crypto’s latest analysis. 

If XRP does dip below these support levels, it is considered normal and not necessarily a cause for concern as long as it respects its below lines as strong support in the near term. This support box could act as a key area of stability for XRP, allowing it to continue its upward trend in price.

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com 

Source: News BTC
Original Post: XRP Breaks 2-Year Trendline: Is A 500x Surge On The Horizon?

The amount of funds flowing through the Avalanche Bridge is down 70% in the last 24 hours, DeFiLlama data on May 31 shows.

70% Drop In Activity In The Avalanche Bridge To Ethereum

Over the past day, the bridge has facilitated $2,634,828 worth of transactions and processed $22.4 million in transfers in the last week.

The bridge has processed 278 transactions in the past day, totaling around $2.6 million. It shows a sharp decrease in activity between Ethereum and Avalanche, among the world’s largest smart contract platforms.

The Avalanche Bridge connects the Avalanche’s C-Chain, one of the three interoperable blockchains defining the low-finality platform, with Ethereum. 

Since C-Chain is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), assets can be smoothly transferred from Avalanche to Ethereum and vice versa. 

The compatibility with the EVM coupled with the decentralization of the bridge means users can move funds between the two blockchains securely. 

Avalanche, unlike Ethereum, is explicitly designed for decentralized finance (DeFi) dApps. It boasts high processing speeds, relatively low fees, and is decentralized. However, it lags Ethereum in activity, judging from the total value locked (TVL). 

According to DeFiLlama data, over $26.5 billion of the approximately $48 billion of all DeFi TVL is managed by dapps on Ethereum.

More Assets Moved Between Avalanche And Bitcoin

Notably, while there is a worrying contraction in the number of transactions and value between Avalanche and Ethereum, the Avalanche Core Bitcoin Bridge is booming. 

On May 31, there was a significant increase in transfers and value, with a spike of 2,726%. Within 24 hours, assets worth over $6.5 million were transferred through the bridge. This is roughly half the average weekly transfers which stand at $13.81. 

Bitcoin transferred to the Avalanche C-Chain from the Bitcoin network is tokenized and is compliant with the ERC-20 standard. In that case, it can be moved to Ethereum and used to participate in DeFi.

Scanning the activities stemming from Avalanche to Bitcoin and Ethereum, the disparity could suggest that more users are moving their assets to and from Bitcoin. 

However, no direct fundamental event could explain why more users are bridging tokens from Bitcoin and cutting down engagement with Ethereum.

In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Avalanche prices have been under pressure, falling from recent highs. To illustrate, AVAX is down 6% from May 28 highs, extending losses from mid-April. AVAX is down 35% in the last six weeks and retesting March 2023 lows. 

AVAX may slip below a critical multi-week support level if sellers double down. In that case, it could drop to December 2022 lows at around $10.

Source: News BTC
Original Post: Avalanche Bridge To Ethereum Records A 70% Drop In Value Transfer, Concern For AVAX Price?