🔴Bitcoin ETF is Overhyped? | This Week in Crypto – Dec 18, 2023

A Ledger library has been compromised, Solana’s telephone may pay for itself and influential tech leaders stand behind a brand new enterprise. These tales and extra, this week in crypto.

Ledger Wallets Compromised

Main {hardware} pockets supplier, Ledger had its connector library compromised with malicious code. The library is utilized by varied decentralized apps like SushiSwap and Revoke.money. Though a pockets drainer was added, stealing property required consumer motion and Ledger addressed the problem promptly. Customers are cautioned to halt any transaction instantly if their Ledger system and display screen show differ.

Solana Telephone Gross sales Surge

Solana’s smartphone skilled a surge in sales due to the airdrop of the Solana-based meme coin BONK. BONK’s 1000% value hike raises the airdrop’s worth for Solana telephone customers to $877, making it a telephone that pays for itself. Co-founder Raj Gokal posted on X that the telephone noticed a 10x surge in gross sales, and he expects the telephones to sell-out earlier than the brand new yr.

BlackRock’s New Bitcoin ETF Mannequin

BlackRock has revamped its bitcoin ETF submitting, altering how Wall Avenue banks would work together with bitcoin. The brand new mannequin submitted to the SEC facilitates financial institution participation with out direct bitcoin holdings, utilizing a cash-based redemption as an alternative. The company has been hesitant to approve a spot bitcoin ETF attributable to dangers of market manipulation, and whereas many issuers would like in-kind redemption, they could simply need to accept the money redemption mannequin with a purpose to acquire approval.

JPMorgan: ETF Optimism is Overhyped

Whereas many traders have rejoiced at Bitcoin’s current upswing, JPMorgan says the ETF optimism is overhyped. The financial institution’s analysts say that Bitcoin is already overbought they usually imagine the significance of US Bitcoin ETF approvals – one of many largest drivers of Bitcoin’s current efficiency, is misplaced. The report says Ether may outperform Bitcoin in 2024 attributable to its upcoming upgrades.

Tether and Dai Marked as “Excessive Danger”

Credit standing agency S&P Global assessed eight leading stablecoins’ risk, giving Tether and Dai low marks on a brand new 1 to five scale. In contrast to their normal rankings, this scale focuses on related qualities and downsides. Tether and Dai obtained “constrained” four scores, whereas TrueUSD bought a “weak” 5. Confidence in stablecoins surged however faltered after final yr’s TerraUSD collapse.

Bitcoin NFTs Blacklisted

Bitcoin mining pool Ocean’s resolution to blacklist BRC20 token transactions and NFT-related Ordinal inscriptions has sparked fairly the moral debate.  Luke Dashjr, Ocean’s operator, defended the motion referring to anti-spam measures launched in Bitcoin Core 0.90, launched in 2014. The congestion on the Bitcoin Community attributed to Ordinals and BRC20 tokens has led to robust reactions on each censorship and financial elements in 2023.

Sotheby’s Sells its First Bitcoin NFTs

Sotheby’s debut sale of Bitcoin blockchain Ordinal inscriptions raked in $450,000, surpassing estimates fivefold, highlighting there’s a big curiosity in Bitcoin NFTs. The public sale featured three pictures, with an avocado promoting for over $100,000 and a Tremendous Mario-inspired design fetching greater than $240,000. Sotheby’s plans to proceed these gross sales.

”Community States” Funded by Tech Billionaires

The Balaji Fund, led by tech determine Balaji Srinivasan, goals to construct “Community States” by way of startups centered on societies to create different on-line communities. The enterprise is backed by influential tech leaders like Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, AngelList’s Naval Ravikant, and former Coinbase board member Fred Wilson, highlighting the robust ties to the cryptocurrency sector inside the group.

That’s what’s occurred this week in crypto, see you subsequent week.