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Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Hashkey will now support trading the Avalanche (AVAX) token on its platform. However, traders must meet an interesting requirement before interacting with this cryptocurrency on the exchange. Traders Must Meet $1 Million Portfolio Requirement: SFC On Wednesday, September 27, Hashkey announced the listing of the AVAX token on its platform, with trading expected to commence on Thursday, September 28. However, only professional investors or individuals with an investment portfolio worth at least 8 million Hong Kong dollars (equivalent to $1 million), according to Hong Kong’s Securities & Futures Commission (SFC). Attention #Crypto Enthusiasts! $AVAX @avax will be available on HashKey Exchange. Deposit and withdrawal are live, and AVAX/USD trading pairs begins on September 28. Professional investors, this one is for you ! #CryptoAlert Read more: https://t.co/sKNFHDF6oe pic.twitter.com/ZQpzSmAi39 — HashKey Exchange (@HashKeyExchange) September 27, 2023 Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Tether (USDT) are the only cryptocurrencies approved by the SFC for retail trading as of this writing. Meanwhile, other altcoins like AVAX are restricted to professional investors or individuals with a $1 million portfolio. Since Hong Kong authorized retail crypto trading in August, the Securities & Futures Commission has placed significant restrictions on the operations of exchanges, including Hashkey. For instance, SFC requires users to deposit at least 10,000 Hong Kong dollars (or $1,500) during the Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process. According to CoinGecko data, Hashkey, the first to receive a retail crypto license in Hong Kong, has a daily trading volume of roughly $4.93 million, which pales compared to its global counterparts. For context, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, boasts a 24-hour trading volume of nearly $4.9 billion. AVAX Price Continues Decline In September Although the listing of AVAX on the Hashkey exchange poses a potential opportunity for increased adoption, it is worth noting that the cryptocurrency’s price has been struggling in recent months. And September wasn’t different for AVAX, as the token lost nearly 14% of its value in the past 30 days. This continuous decline underscores Avalanche’s overall performance in 2023, which reflects the uncertain condition of the general market. The cryptocurrency has been on an estimated 58% plunge since notching a high of $21 in April. According to data from CoinGecko, the Avalanche token changed hands for $8.91, with a 0.31% dip in the last 24 hours. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency has a daily trading volume of $117,251,082, reflecting an 18.4% rise in the past day. Avalanche ranks as the 24th-largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of over $3.1 billion.
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MARA Pool, the Bitcoin mining pool operated by the publicly listed Marathon Digital Holdings, had a transaction ordering issue on September 27 after it mined an invalid block at block height 809478. The invalid block was first picked by an X user, “0xB10C”, before Jameson Lopp, the CTO of Casa, a Bitcoin-focused company, later confirmed it. Lopp scanned his node and noted that MARA Pool had spent an output before it was created, validating a double-spent transaction.  Marathon Digital Mined An Invalid Block In Bitcoin, a mining pool or an individual miner can’t approve an “illegal” transaction originating from any network user. By double-spending, the user posting the transaction tries to cheat the system.  Bitcoin is self-auditing, and every miner and mining pool connected to the network must always confirm that all transactions in the latest block and attached to the longest chain are valid. If a block contains an invalid transaction not supported by other miners, it will be rejected. This was the case with the block verified by MARA Pool; other miners automatically dismissed it and didn’t build on it. BitMEX Research findings show that the block was disregarded because of a transaction ordering problem. In Bitcoin, miners decide the order of transactions within a block based on the fees attached.  All these transactions are picked from the mempool, a temporary storage for all unconfirmed transactions. While they can arrange them in any order, this changes once the block is confirmed after its cryptographic puzzle is solved.  Ensuring transactions are ordered chronologically makes Bitcoin resistant to double-spending, which can destroy a public network’s credibility. Bitcoin prevents this by automatically proving that only a particular transaction was the first to be confirmed on the network, invalidating any other. Bitcoin Remains Volatile The event also coincided with heightened Bitcoin volatility. At September 27 highs, the coin had soared to as high as $27,263 and remains capped inside a $1,000 range, looking at price action in the daily chart.  Nonetheless, the surge was quickly met with strong rejections. The coin fell sharply from today’s highs, and an inverted hammer forms in the daily chart. Despite the pullback, Bitcoin is roughly up 5% from September lows. Buyers have the upper hand since prices are trending inside the bullish range established in the second and third weeks of the month. Presently, prices are trending above the primary support at around $26,000. Looking at price trends in the past few weeks, the path of least resistance is southwards despite the recent revival. Feature image from Canva, chart by TradingView
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Marathon said the bug emanated from its experimental mining pool used to research ways to optimize operations.
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Microsoft bans play-to-earn Bitcoin Minecraft server Satlantis, iPhone 15 has big potential for crypto gaming, Formula E preview, and more.
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially acknowledged the spot Bitcoin ETF application from Franklin Templeton, a global asset manager with $1.5 trillion under management. This move comes as the SEC also considers applications for spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from other entities, including Hashdex. Franklin Templeton’s filing is particularly notable due to The post Just-In: Franklin Templeton’s Bitcoin ETF Application Gets SEC Nod appeared first on CoinGape.
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Curve has observed gains of more than 20% in the past week, but this rally may not continue for long, as a whale has made a large move to exchanges. Curve Has Enjoyed A Sharp Rally Over The Past Week CRV has gone against the grain recently as it has registered some sharp bullish momentum during a period where the largest coins in the sector, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, have struggled. Following this latest uptrend, the Curve DAO token’s price has risen above the $0.52 mark. Here is a chart that shows how the cryptocurrency has performed over the past month: In the past week, CRV is up more than 20%, which makes it the best-performing coin among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap. The outperformance is by quite a distance, too, as many of the assets are in the red for the period. Now, the main question on the minds of the Curve DAO token holders is: can the asset keep up its rally? In the sharp surge a few days back, the asset had briefly managed to breach the $0.56 level, but the asset had quickly returned to the current level. Since then, CRV has been moving sideways, suggesting a slowdown in the buying pressure. While the asset has continued to hold at the current levels positive, some investors may be becoming restless, like a certain whale. CRV Whale Has Made A Sizeable Deposit To Binance Today According to data from the cryptocurrency transaction tracker service Whale Alert, a large CRV transfer has been spotted on the Ethereum blockchain during the past day. The transaction in question involved the movement of about 33.3 million CRVs, worth approximately $17.3 million at the time the transfer took place on the network. Given the large size of the move, it’s likely that a whale entity is behind it. As for what this humongous holder may have wanted to accomplish with the transfer, the full details may reveal some context. It would seem like the sending address in the case of this transaction was an unknown wallet, meaning that it was unattached to any known centralized platform and was likely the whale’s personal, self-custodial wallet. The destination of the move was the Binance exchange. As one of the main reasons investors use these platforms is for selling-related purposes, there is a chance that the deposit has been made for dumping. If this is truly the whale losing patience and taking profits at the current price level, then the Curve DAO token may observe at least a temporary pullback in the coming days.
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The cryptocurrency sector, particularly Ripple Labs, has been embroiled in a scenario of concern and uncertainty following a contentious exchange between the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) chair, Gary Gensler, and the House Financial Services Committee in Congress which could affect the XRP price.  Despite Ripple’s partial legal victory against the SEC, Gensler’s stance remains unchanged, as he emphasized the regulatory body’s determination to pursue an interlocutory appeal in the ongoing case. This has raised further questions and apprehension within the industry. Congressman Highlights Ripple Case’s Far-From-Over Status During the hearing, Congressman Stephen F. Lynch expressed his concern about the potential pattern whereby court battles become the norm to determine the classification of individual tokens as securities.  While Gensler did not respond directly, he mentioned the SEC’s filing for an interlocutory appeal, highlighting the regulator’s intent to continue the legal battle. Lynch acknowledged that the case is far from over. On August 17, Judge Torres granted the SEC’s request to file an interlocutory appeal, granting the regulatory body an opportunity to present a compelling case to the Second Circuit.  However, it’s important to note that this permission only allows the SEC to file the motion for an interlocutory appeal, presenting a significant opening for the regulator to challenge the previous ruling and seek a different outcome. These recent developments, as highlighted by Congressman Lynch, indicate that the ongoing Ripple case may take considerable time to resolve.  As a result, XRP is likely to remain stagnant, trapped in a consolidation phase, or potentially retracing beyond its current levels. This could potentially push the cryptocurrency to pursue another annual low, extending beyond the $0.4225 mark reached on August 17. XRP Price Analysis Points To Potential Macro Uptrend Despite the legal battles and the uncertainty surrounding the current state of the crypto market, some signs might point to a different scenario, where XRP could follow a macro uptrend.  Technical analysis highlights a pattern resembling the last market cycle, which consists of five phases: rise, crash, retrace, reaccumulation, and eventual breakout. Drawing parallels to previous cycles, many coins have experienced explosive growth beyond their previous all-time highs after the reaccumulation phase.  For instance, Bitcoin went through its reaccumulation phase during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, due to the ongoing lawsuit, XRP has entered a more prolonged reaccumulation phase in the form of an Elliott wave triangle, similar to the previous cycle.  Currently, the market is in phase E, which suggests a potential retracement upwards, followed by another dip to lower levels. Eventually, there is anticipation for a breakout from this massive triangle, leading to a new all-time high likely to occur next year or the year after. While some argue that the XRP price fate depends on Bitcoin’s performance, it is worth noting that when comparing XRP to BTC, it is also within an accumulation range and exhibits a bullish outlook. From this perspective, XRP is expected to outperform other alternative coins significantly. However, for the XRP price to sustain an extended uptrend in the near term, it must overcome significant resistance levels that pose potential challenges. In the immediate time frame, XRP faces a resistance at $0.5132, followed by two additional formidable barriers, which are expected to be particularly challenging in the coming weeks. XRP’s 50-day and 200-day Moving Averages (MAs) are currently positioned at $0.5194 and $0.5318, respectively. These MAs, once considered reliable support levels, have failed to hold, necessitating a significant catalyst for XRP to surpass them.  This is evident in the chart, depicting the partial victory on July 13, when XRP surged above both MAs. However, since August, XRP has been trading below them. Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
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The commission also designated a longer period to reach a decision on spot Bitcoin ETF applications from ARK 21Shares and GlobalX on Sept. 26.
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During a recent congressional hearing, Gary Gensler, the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), clarified his position on Bitcoin. Significantly, Gensler expressed that Bitcoin does not qualify as a security under US law. However, his reluctance to label it as a commodity has raised eyebrows and led to further speculation about its The post “Bitcoin Is Not A Security”- SEC Chair Gary Gensler appeared first on CoinGape.
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