Uk Jin

According to Alternative, a virtual asset (cryptocurrency) data provider, the Virtual Asset Fear & Greed Index recorded 39 points, up 2 points from the previous day. As of 9:16 a.m. today, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $85,390 on CoinMarketCap, up 0.19% from the previous day. Altcoins showed mixed trends. At the same time, Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) fell by 1.25% and 0.24%, respectively, while Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 0.12%. Meanwhile, Solana (-1.44%), Ada (-1.08%), and Dogecoin (-1.22%) showed weakness during the day. The Fear & Greed Index is an indicator that expresses market sentiment, with a score closer to 0 indicating extreme fear and closer to 100 indicating extreme greed. This index is calculated based on volatility (25%), trading volume (25%), social media (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin market cap dominance (10%), and Google search trends (10%).

Michael Saylor, CEO of Saylor Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), hinted at the possibility of additional Bitcoin (BTC) purchases. On the 20th (local time), CEO Saylor posted the Saylor Tracker chart on X (formerly Twitter), stating "We're short on oranges." The Saylor Tracker chart tracks Bitcoin purchases according to the price of Strategy's stock. CEO Saylor has always posted this chart on X before Strategy buys Bitcoin. Meanwhile, CEO Saylor also reported that Strategy's stock is gaining attention worldwide. He stated, "As of the first quarter of this year, 13,000 companies hold Strategy stock, and a total of 814,000 individual investors hold Strategy stock." He added, "If you expand the scope to include ETFs, mutual funds, pensions, and insurance products, a total of 55 million people hold Strategy."

Abnormal futures trading has reportedly occurred at the cryptocurrency exchange Bitget. On the 20th (local time), Bitget announced through a notice that "abnormal trading was detected in Voxies (VOXEL) futures trading" and "some accounts suspected of market manipulation were immediately suspended." It also explained that "manipulated profits will be confiscated through procedures, and compensation measures for affected users will also be implemented." Previously, on the 20th at 17:00 (Korean time), abnormal trading was observed at Bitget, where the futures trading volume of Voxies exceeded that of Bitcoin (BTC), causing the price of Voxies to surge by more than 200%.

XRP is hovering near $2, with analysis indicating a lack of bullish momentum. As of 7:06 AM on the 21st, XRP is trading at $2.07, down 0.68% from the previous day according to CoinMarketCap, a cryptocurrency market data provider. XRP has maintained a price level around $2 since March. Compared to 30 days ago, the current price is approximately 13% lower. In this trend, there are evaluations that XRP lacks bullish momentum. Cryptocurrency specialist media BeInCrypto analyzed, "XRP's Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains at a neutral level of 40-50," and "It is judged that the bullish momentum is lacking as the RSI does not exceed 70." There is also analysis that XRP may not hold the $2 level. BeInCrypto projected, "The key support level for XRP is $2.05," and "If the $2.05 support level collapses, there is a possibility of a sharp drop to $1.61."

Official circulation is 100 billion Transactions exceeding 1.8 trillion detected "False disclosure" vs "Test" A controversy over false disclosure of circulation regarding Pi Network (PI), also known as Pi Coin, has erupted, centered around the community. This is because a transaction of Pi Coin exceeding the total supply of Pi Coin was recently detected. According to Pi Explorer, which allows real-time transaction tracking of Pi Network, about three weeks ago, two transactions were made from a Pi Network wallet address (GDZ5ZJCL2KERJNNJGV6T337H6WO47SWYFI25XJUZGHZPZBWXXYFYXLEL), transferring 922.337 billion and 888.888 billion Pi Network tokens. The total of these two transactions amounts to about 1.8112 trillion. The problem is that this scale significantly exceeds the official total supply of Pi Coin. According to the white paper and the virtual asset information platform CoinMarketCap, the total supply of Pi Coin is around 100 billion. The transaction volume confirmed this time is about 10 times the official supply, leading investors to raise the possibility of manipulation of Pi Coin's circulation. One investor criticized, "Pi Network is not a real blockchain. It is highly centralized and vulnerable to manipulation," and "It is making those who buy tokens victims." Another investor pointed out, "In extremely centralized projects, there is no limit to the total amount," and "Pi Network falsely disclosed the circulation." On the other hand, some investors took a cautious stance. The actual balance of the address in question appears to be less than 10, suggesting that it may be an internal test by the core team or developers. Kim Beom-jun, a researcher at Dispread Blockchain, also stated, "The actual holdings do not match the transaction history," and "It is premature to conclude it as false disclosure of circulation at this point. We should wait for the official position of the project team." Despite the spread of such controversy, the Pi Core Team operating the Pi Network has not issued any official position on this matter. Bloomingbit requested confirmation on this issue but did not receive a response. Meanwhile, as of 4:51 PM on the same day, Pi Network is recording $0.6112, up 1.27% from the previous day according to CoinMarketCap.

Sky (formerly MakerDAO) announced on X (formerly Twitter) on the 17th that "the Agent Framework will open the next stage of decentralized finance (DeFi)." The Agent Framework is a solution introduced by Sky last March to address the passive governance, processes, and top-down decision-making that were pointed out as improvements in existing DeFi. At that time, Sky introduced the Agent Framework, stating that it "supports initial operating funds, liquidity networks, and plug-and-play infrastructure for ecosystem projects." Specifically, DeFi projects within the Sky ecosystem can build their own Star (a decentralized project operating independently within the Sky ecosystem) through the Agent Framework. They can also receive support for Sky Primitives, a module for developing DeFi protocols. Sky stated, "Through Primitives, Stars can access Sky's liquidity and security," adding that "in this case, Stars can use Sky's dollar-pegged stablecoin (a virtual asset pegged to the value of fiat currency) USDS as collateral and also earn USDS referral incentives."

Attention is drawn to whether a company in Brazil will emerge to accumulate Bitcoin (BTC), the leading virtual asset (cryptocurrency), as a strategic asset. According to the virtual asset specialized media Cointelegraph on the 16th (local time), Brazilian fintech company Meliuz announced in a statement on the 14th that it plans to expand its Bitcoin holdings and establish Bitcoin as a strategic asset in the company's financial statements. Meliuz plans to officially propose this Bitcoin accumulation strategy at the shareholders' meeting on May 6. If the shareholders accept Meliuz's proposal, Meliuz will be able to incorporate Bitcoin as a strategic asset. Meliuz explained, "We will gradually increase our Bitcoin holdings for shareholders through operating funds or strategic initiatives." Meanwhile, after announcing this plan, Meliuz's stock price climbed. The previous day, Meliuz closed at 3.85 reais on the Brazilian stock exchange, up 27.91% from the previous day.

Negative analysis emerges for XRP, which has been on an upward trend over the past week. On the 16th (local time), the cryptocurrency-specialized media CoinDesk reported that a 'rising wedge pattern' was observed on the XRP chart, indicating a bleak short-term outlook for XRP. A rising wedge pattern refers to a pattern where the lower trendline and the upper trendline meet. When this pattern occurs, if the price falls below the support line, it can switch from an uptrend to a downtrend. CoinDesk explained, "The starting point of XRP's rising wedge structure can be identified as the support line," adding, "This means XRP could fall to $1.60." It further noted, "XRP also suggested the collapse of the rising wedge by falling below the Ichimoku Cloud on the hourly chart." The price XRP needs to recover to invalidate the rising wedge pattern is estimated at $2.18. Meanwhile, as of 2:43 PM today, XRP is recording $3.93 according to CoinMarketCap.

It is reported that active virtual asset (cryptocurrency) trading is still occurring on the Chinese mainland, where all virtual asset trading is banned. As the Chinese government increasingly seizes virtual assets from these illegal trades, there is a growing call for clear regulations. On the 16th (local time), Reuters reported that among lawyers on the Chinese mainland, there are calls for the Chinese authorities to improve their inadequate and inconsistent approach to Bitcoin (BTC) and other virtual assets. Some lawyers particularly warned that such ambiguous regulations could serve as a basis for illegal activities and foster corruption. According to Reuters, local governments in China have been adding to their finances by selling seized virtual assets overseas through private companies. However, this is evaluated as illegal activity in China, where virtual asset trading is completely banned. Professor Chen Xi of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law explained, "Such dispositions are merely temporary measures in China, where virtual asset trading is currently banned." In fact, the scale of virtual assets collected through seizures by local governments in China has been rapidly increasing recently. According to blockchain security firm SAFEIS, the fines and seizures from virtual asset crimes by local governments in China amounted to 378 billion yuan (approximately 73.56 trillion won) in 2023, a 65% increase compared to five years ago. Meanwhile, it is reported that lawyers on the Chinese mainland have held several discussions with judges and public security officials to change the way seized virtual assets are handled. At a seminar last January, there was overwhelming agreement on the need to recognize virtual assets as legal assets and establish a unified procedure for their seizure and disposal. Reuters evaluated, "This could bring significant changes to China's virtual asset industry," and added, "If so, it would be similar to the moves of the Trump administration in the United States, which is showing a friendly stance towards virtual assets."

According to the top gainers in Token Mindshare (a metric quantifying the influence of specific tokens in the virtual asset market) by the AI-based Web3 search platform Kaito, the top 5 virtual assets that people are most interested in as of the 16th are ZKSync (ZK), Bitcoin (BTC), WCT, USDC, and ApeCoin (APE). ZKSync, which took the first place, saw a sharp price drop due to a token theft incident, drawing investors' attention. Overnight, rumors spread in multiple overseas communities that the ZKSync project team was selling tokens. However, it was confirmed that $5 million worth of ZKSync was stolen from a compromised administrator account. The ZKSync team announced via their official X (formerly Twitter) that "the investigation revealed that three airdrop distribution contract administrator accounts were hacked," and "we are coordinating recovery efforts with exchanges and negotiating with the hacker for fund return." As of 1:22 PM, ZKSync is trading at $0.04751, down 3.16% from the previous day, showing partial recovery from the drop caused by the hacking. Following in second place is the leading virtual asset, Bitcoin. Overnight, Bitcoin showed extreme volatility, fluctuating between $83,000 and $85,000, causing investor concerns. At the same time, Bitcoin is trading at $83,545, down 2.04% from the previous day. WCT took the third place. It attracted investors' attention by announcing simultaneous listings on perpetual futures exchanges like Binance and Bybit the previous day. USDC took the fourth place. Lastly, ApeCoin rose in the rankings by announcing NFT staking rewards. Additionally, investors are also showing interest in PumpBTC (PUMP), HyperLiquid (HYPE), Tezos (XTZ), OpenSea, and SetLayer.

There has been another net outflow of funds from the Ethereum (ETH) spot Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). According to Farside Investor on the 15th (local time), a total of $14.2 million was net outflowed from the Ethereum spot ETF on this day. Looking at the net outflow by product, Grayscale ETHE and Fidelity FETH recorded net outflows of $10.6 million and $3.6 million, respectively. No net inflow or outflow occurred in other Ethereum spot ETFs.

The meme coin Melania (MELANIA), themed after First Lady Melania Trump, has seen a decline of nearly 40% over the past month. Part of the decline is speculated to be due to sales by the project team. According to on-chain data provider AmberCN on the 16th (local time), the Melania team sold 20.5 million Melania tokens over the past 30 days. The average selling price was $0.686, totaling $14.06 million. During this period, the price of Melania tokens plummeted. As of 12:22 PM today, Melania is trading at $0.43 on CoinMarketCap, down 3.31% from the previous day and 38.66% from the previous month. AmberCN explained, "10.5 million Melania allocated to the community were swapped for 44,013 Solana (SOL), and 10 million Melania allocated for liquidity were swapped for 57,407 Solana."

Noble, a digital asset issuance technology standard infrastructure company, announced on the 16th that it plans to launch the stablecoin development platform 'Noble App Layer'. A stablecoin is a digital asset whose value is linked to real fiat currencies like the dollar. The Noble App Layer uses the modular blockchain Celestia. The Noble App Layer is set to launch this summer, with the goal of making stablecoins an everyday tool that anyone can easily use. Specifically, the Noble App Layer is a new internet financial platform that helps developers create various financial services such as remittances, payments, and investments using stablecoins. It has incorporated technology to quickly process transactions on the modular blockchain Celestia, enabling the development of financial services that can be used anywhere in the world. Since its establishment in 2023, Noble has provided secure digital asset services, processing over $8 billion in transactions. Notably, it has supported over $6.5 billion in the past year, drawing attention in the industry. Last year, Noble launched the stablecoin Noble Dollar (USDN), making a full-scale entry into the stablecoin business. The Noble App Layer also aims to connect with major Ethereum (ETH)-based DeFi projects, centered around the Noble Dollar. Jelena Djuric, CEO of Noble, stated, "Stablecoins are the key to opening the future of digital finance, and the Noble App Layer is a platform for developers to create stable and new financial services," adding, "Following the recent launch of the Noble Dollar (USDN), this platform release is an important step in making that dream a reality."

The Bitcoin (BTC) spot Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) has achieved a net inflow for two consecutive trading days. According to Trader T on the 15th (local time), a total of $76.89 million was net inflowed into the Bitcoin spot ETF on this day. In terms of net inflow size, BlackRock IBIT had the largest with $38.69 million, followed by Ark Invest ARKB (+$13.42 million), Bitwise BITB (+$10.98 million), Grayscale BTC (+$8.93 million), and Franklin Templeton EZBC (+$4.87 million).

According to the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) data provider Alternative on the 16th, the virtual asset Fear & Greed Index recorded 29 points, down 9 points from the previous day. As of 9:43 a.m. on this day, Bitcoin (BTC) is recorded at $83,369 on CoinMarketCap, down 1.66% from the previous day. Most altcoins are also weak. At the same time, Ethereum (ETH) fell by 2.78%, and XRP and Solana (SOL) fell by 2.40% and 2.19%, respectively. Additionally, Binance Coin (-1.12%), ADA (-4.21%), Dogecoin (-3.60%), and TRON (-0.65%) also showed weakness during the day. The Fear & Greed Index is an indicator that expresses market sentiment, indicating extreme fear when close to 0 and extreme greed when close to 100. This index is calculated based on volatility (25%), trading volume (25%), social media (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin market cap dominance (10%), and Google search volume (10%).

Semler Scientific, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company in the U.S. that has incorporated Bitcoin (BTC) as a major asset, is drawing attention to whether it can succeed in settling with the Department of Justice (DOJ) using its Bitcoin holdings. According to CoinDesk, a cryptocurrency-focused media outlet, on the 15th (local time), Semler Scientific, Inc. reported in a filed document that it is prepared to pay $29.75 million for a settlement related to allegations of fraud prevention law violations that occurred during the marketing process of QuantaFlo. Previously, last month, Semler Scientific, Inc. disclosed that it had received a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the DOJ in 2017. In relation to this, discussions for a settlement with the DOJ began in February. Notably, Bitcoin, which Semler Scientific, Inc. has been acquiring, played a significant role in this settlement. Bitcoin was helpful in preparing the fine to be paid. According to the 8-K document submitted to the SEC by Semler Scientific, Inc., the company has entered into an agreement with the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to borrow both cash and digital assets using its Bitcoin holdings as collateral. Semler Scientific, Inc. stated, "We plan to borrow funds according to the agreement with Coinbase and use the proceeds to pay the settlement amount proposed by the DOJ." However, Semler Scientific, Inc. has not yet succeeded in reaching a final settlement with the DOJ. This is because the DOJ may claim damages exceeding the agreed settlement amount. Meanwhile, Semler Scientific, Inc. currently holds a total of 3,192 Bitcoins, which amounts to approximately $267 million at the current market price.

The real-world asset (RWA) project cryptocurrency MANTRA (OM) has surged during the day. The market is focused on whether MANTRA can recover after experiencing the worst crash on the 14th. As of 7:58 AM on the 16th (KST), MANTRA is recording $0.8020, a 33.82% increase compared to the previous day, according to CoinMarketCap. Although it recorded a surge on this day, it is still at a lower level compared to the price before the crash. Previously, MANTRA's value plummeted by over 90% during the day on the 14th, causing a significant shock to the market. As a result, the price of MANTRA tokens, which was maintaining the $6 level at the time, fell to $0.5 within 30 minutes. The crash led to a clash of responsibility between centralized exchanges (CEX) and the project team. Immediately after the crash, several influencers, including the virtual asset detective ZachXBT, raised suspicions of a rug pull by the MANTRA team, but MANTRA immediately refuted this. John Mullin, CEO of MANTRA, stated in an 'AMA (Ask Me Anything)' session with Cointelegraph, "Neither the MANTRA team, major investors, nor advisors sold tokens on a large scale," claiming that "the token's price plummeted due to forced liquidation at a specific centralized exchange." He added, "I believe a particular exchange is responsible," clarifying, "It's not Binance."

A comparison of returns over the past 14 years shows that the leading virtual asset (cryptocurrency), Bitcoin (BTC), has significantly outperformed gold and the S&P500. According to The Defiant on the 15th (local time), Bitcoin recorded a cumulative return of 7,200,000% over the past 14 years, showing a much higher return compared to gold (116%) and the S&P500 (306%) during the same period. In particular, Bitcoin has recorded higher returns than the S&P500 every year since 2010. Gold also showed lower returns than Bitcoin every year except for the first year. In terms of returns over the past two years, Bitcoin recorded 173%, higher than gold (61%) and the S&P500 (29%).

According to the Token Mindshare (a metric quantifying the influence of specific tokens in the virtual asset market) top gainers of the AI-based Web3 search platform Kaito, the top 5 virtual assets that people are most interested in as of the 15th are Ethereum (ETH), Avalanche (AVAX), USDC, Binance Coin (BNB), and Arbitrum (ARB). In the case of Ethereum, the leading altcoin, the sale by whales who held a large amount of Ethereum attracted investors' attention. Earlier, around 12 PM on the same day, $1 million worth of Ethereum was sold from a whale address that participated in the initial coin offering (ICO) of Ethereum. This address sold as many as 630 Ethereum every two days. Meanwhile, as of 1:18 PM on the same day, Ethereum is trading at $1636.57, down 0.48% from the previous day according to CoinMarketCap. Avalanche took second place. Avalanche has captured investors' hearts by rising 17% in value over the past 7 days. It is also positively evaluated that Avalanche ranked 5th in the chain's DApp fee ranking in the first quarter, following Ethereum, Base, Binance Coin, and Arbitrum. The stablecoin USDC took third place. Following this, Binance Coin and Arbitrum, which ranked 3rd and 4th respectively in the first quarter DApp fee ranking, took 4th and 5th place. In addition, investors are also interested in Base, LSD, Coinbase, Verasity, and POL.