Crypto roundup: Bitcoin and altcoins go boldly into new week; Terra founder sues SEC

October 27, 2021 Editor Altcoin 0

Bitcoin, Ethereum and various altcoins such as Solana, are moving with strength into the fresh week so far. Meanwhile, the co-founder of Terra is hopping in the ring with the SEC.

At the time of writing, the entire market cap is well up (+4.7 per cent) since this time yesterday, with a total valuation of US$2.749 trillion, give or take a few hundred million dollars or so.

Bitcoin (BTC) has rebounded well after a weekly close that left it, albeit briefly, just under US$60K. It’s currently changing hands for US$63,666, up 5.42 per cent since this time yesterday.

A short time ago, analyst Rekt Capital tweeted that the OG crypto had retested and seemingly found its support zone on the charts today. That’s a bullish set-up.

Bitcoin’s market dominance is still riding pretty high at 47.09 per cent. When this percentage begins to come down significantly, with overall strength still in the market, it’s a sign we may have an “altcoin season” on our hands. The market isn’t there yet, although there are some altcoins showing strong set-ups, according to analysts.

One of those, is the bull goose of all altcoins, Ethereum (ETH). It’s reclaimed its important round-numbered “psychological support” of US$4K in the past 24 hours, currently sitting around US$4,150 and up about 3.5 per cent.

It also just claimed its highest weekly close in its history…

 

Terra’s co-founder is suing the SEC

The co-founder of Terraform Labs, the company behind major decentralised finance platform Terra (LUNA), is suing the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to the lawsuit, filed on Friday, Terraform’s co-founder Do Kwon was served a subpoena by the SEC at the Messari crypto conference held in New York in September. Some reports reveal that Kwon was apparently slapped with the SEC document while on an escalator on his way up to give a speech at the event.

The SEC’s inquiry appears to hone in on Mirror Protocol (MIR), a DeFi project built on top of Terra, which enables users to trade “synthetic” assets that track the price of real-world assets.

Like it’s still aiming to do with Ripple Labs, the SEC wants to crack down on what it suspects are firms offering unregistered securities. But like Ripple, Terraform is fighting back.

The lawsuit disputes the subpoena and requested testimony from Kwon, a South Korea citizen and resident. And it claims the SEC violated its own rules by using an outside private process service company to deliver the subpoena at a crowded conference as a means to “publicly intimidate and embarrass”.

The SEC, and its boss Gary Gensler, certainly has its hands full right now. And speaking of Gensler, here’s what he had to say regarding DeFi at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit today:

“There’s a lot of lending going on. There’s a lot of trading going on. And without protections, I fear that it’s going to end poorly.”

Gensler is also still going on about the Wild West. The man must love a good old-fashioned, high-noon shootout. Maybe he thinks Ripple Labs and Terraform Labs are the bad and the ugly?

Also in the news: Cyptoys; Scarammuci; Nigerian CBDC

• VC investor Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has led a US7.6 million round raised by OnChain Studios to develop Cryptoys – an NFT platform combining digital toys and gaming.

• Anthony Scaramucci, CEO of US-based investment firm SkyBridge Capital, told CNBC today that anyone “who does the homework [on Bitcoin] ends up investing in it”.

• Nigeria has launched its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira. Developed by fintech company Bitt, it is designed as a means of payment and store of value.

• Oh, and here’s something else we just noticed, courtesy of Morgan Creek Digital’s Anthony Pompliano. A Korean credit union buying BTC for its balance sheet. “Probably nothing”.

 

Mooners and shakers: Solana hits an ATH

Elsewhere in the market today… Solana (SOL) is easily the best performer in the top 10, posting a 16.94 per cent gain across the past 24 hours, and currently trading at US$218.27 – an all-time high it just hit a minute or so ago.

It’s been remarkable to see this layer 1 smart-contract blockchain so easily shake off the negativity it experienced for a week or so after it essentially went offline as a network for the best part of a day in mid-September. It’s up more than 55 per cent since that event and looking in good shape as we head towards November.

It’s single-digit percentage green for the rest of the top 10 at the moment, but sitting just outside, at no. 11, we have Shiba Inu (SHIB), which has pulled back a bit, down about eight per cent since it was surging up the chart this time yesterday.

Did Elon Musk respond to another tweet or something? Doesn’t look like it. It’s likely just fluctuating on the back of some profit taking after a big pump.

Other strong performers catching our eye in the top 100 by market cap today include: Chainlink (LINK), +12%; Algorand (ALGO), +11%; Near Protocol (NEAR), +32%; The Graph (GRT), +16%; THORChain (Rune), +16%; and Spell Token (SPELL), +14.5%.

 

 

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