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Crypto Market Set to Grow, WazirX VP Predicts Bullish in 2024

Rajagopal Menon, vice president of Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, anticipates a bull year for the cryptocurrency market. He told Coiningape: “Next year, a very favorable environment is predicted for the cryptocurrency market. With the United States signaling two interest rate cuts, the Bitcoin halving scheduled for April, market liquidity increasing, and regulatory dynamics shaping up, market sentiment is notably bullish.”

The cryptocurrency market has already prepared itself for this optimistic scenario. Several major Bitcoin ETF participants are now well positioned after this week. On Friday, BlackRock, WisdomTree, Fidelity, Bitwise, among other top contenders in the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) race, filed their revised S-1 filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This flurry of activity signifies a willingness to take advantage of potential regulatory approvals, which will help the market mature and become a little more regulated.

Gold and elections suggest a rise in the cryptocurrency market

Gold, a precious metal, is considered a traditional safe-haven asset, especially when the stock market does not give expected returns. Gold shows stability to investors as a hedge. Reports reveal that the yellow metal is concluding its strongest year since 2020. This performance is supported by expectations that the US Federal Reserve may implement interest rate cuts early next year.

Menon also highlights the possible global impact of political developments on the cryptocurrency sector. “Elections in India and the United States are expected to usher in concrete regulatory frameworks at the national level, coinciding with a long-awaited bull run,” he added.

Meanwhile, in the United States, prominent cryptocurrency companies and investors are stepping up their efforts to influence political and regulatory outcomes surrounding the asset class. The Financial Times revealed this week that companies including Coinbase, Circle and a16z are investing money in pro-crypto lawmakers. This comes at a time when there is a legislative impasse in Congress ahead of the change of power in 2024.

Menon also said: “Analysts project a sustained increase in institutional investment, particularly through Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. As the market develops in 2024, macroeconomic influences and regulatory changes will have a considerable impact, marking it as a dynamic and transformative period.”

Bitcoin price direction is a complex play of macroeconomic and regulatory developments. But it paints a picture of a cryptocurrency market on the verge of significant transformation. And it looks like 2024 could be the year to watch.

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Canadian Crypto Exchange CatalX Temporarily Suspends Trading and Withdrawals

Catalyx, a Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform, announced a security breach on Thursday. It involves the loss of crypto assets in the exchange’s custody.

Crypto Exchange Security Breach

CatalX CTS Ltd., operator of the cryptocurrency exchange, said in a press release that the security incident is suspected to involve an employee.

The events disrupted normal trading and withdrawal activities on the Canadian platform.

It said: “Due to the loss, all cryptocurrency and fiat currency withdrawals from the Platform and all trading activities on the Platform have been temporarily suspended.”

Termination order details

Based on the December 21, 2023 injunction order, the Alberta Securities Commission announced the confidentiality of the admitted evidence.

The order was granted pursuant to sections 33 and 198 of the Securities Act (Alberta) and requires a 15-day pause in the trading and purchasing of any securities or derivatives by the defendants. The order will expire on January 5, 2024, if not extended by the Commission.

Although the crypto exchange has ceased all trading and withdrawals, it is being audited by Deloitte.

Crypto Losses in 2023

However, this is not the first incident where a crypto company has lost funds due to an internal breach.

In early July 2023, reports revealed that crypto payments provider CoinsPaid suffered a loss of $37 million. The breach reportedly resulted from hackers gaining access to an employee’s computer through a misleading job offer. The employee was later tricked into installing a program that led to the theft of critical data.

In a separate incident, LastPass, a company specializing in password data encryption, faced a security breach in its cloud storage service due to employee credentials being compromised.

According to a recent De.Fi report, the decentralized finance sector faced losses totaling around $1.95 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, Ethereum emerged as the most attacked blockchain, suffering around $1.35 billion in losses in 170 violations.

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Binance launches new web3 AI gaming platform

Sleepless AI is a web3 and AI integrated gaming platform that offers a new interactive gaming experience. The platform allows users to interact with AI-based features in a gaming environment.

The platform will be available tomorrow and will allow users to stake BNB, FDUSD, and TUSD to earn AI tokens over a seven-day period. AI tokens will be able to be traded on Binance from January 4th, with several trading pairs available, including AI/BTC and AI/USDT.

The total supply of AI tokens is set at 1 billion, with 70 million designated for Launchpool rewards. The distribution is part of Binance’s strategy to encourage participation in the new gaming platform. The platform’s unique offering lies in the use of AI to create more interactive and personalized gaming experiences.

Users also have the flexibility to withdraw funds at any time and switch between the different funds available. Additionally, Binance’s BNB Vault and locked products are configured to support Launchpool, allowing BNB staked in these products to participate in Launchpool and automatically earn rewards.

BNB also saw a notable recovery in the market today, with the token rising to $296, its highest price in the last six months. The altcoin is up more than 11% today and 17.5% in the last week.

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Bitcoin Transaction Fees Rise to $40

On Saturday, December 16, 2023, Bitcoin transaction fees peak at $40 per transaction at 1:48 p.m. Eastern Time. The increase in on-chain fees exceeded the peak reached on May 8, 2023, when the average transfer cost exceeded $31 per transfer.

Rising Bitcoin Rates Surpass $40

Bitcoin transaction fees are rising, and at the time of writing, a high-priority transaction hit $40 just before 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 16th. Miners have been charging fees and an example of this is the fact that block height 821,485 came with 7,314 BTC in fees, which is more than the block subsidy size of 6.25 BTC. Currently, the hash price per petahash per second (PH/s) remains at $108 per PH/s per day.

The recent increase in Bitcoin transaction fees to $40 each significantly surpasses the previous 2023 record of $31 per transfer set on May 8. Mempool space data reveals that for high-priority transactions, individuals are spending 674 satoshis per virtual byte (sat/vB). , while for those with lower priority the cost is around 602 sat/vB or US$35.78, as observed on Saturday afternoon.

Notably, some transactions on Saturday exceeded as much as $50 per transfer. There are currently eight unmined blocks, each filled with high-priority transactions. Additionally, 311 blocks are waiting to be processed to resolve the backlog of 383,607 unconfirmed Bitcoin (BTC) transactions in the mempool.

These outstanding blocks, which total more than 531 megabytes (MB) of block space, translate into an estimated settlement time of just over two days and three hours, considering the average block interval of ten minutes. The significant increase in BTC fees on the network has generated a flurry of comments and discussions on social media, with numerous observers weighing in on the situation.

“The average Bitcoin transaction fee is now $50, with 300,000 transactions waiting to be confirmed. This is beyond ridiculous and unusable,” said Nikita Zhavoronkov, lead developer at Blockchair. “Historically, this is the point at which people start fleeing en masse to alternative blockchains.”

Others were quite satisfied with the high rates. “Remember all the [Ethereum] maxis who said Bitcoin had a security budget problem? It’s fixed,” posted Dan Held on X. Others talked about layer two (L2) solutions and whether or not they could alleviate the problem.

“Bitcoin rates surpassed 600 sats/vB today. That’s a 600x increase in 1 year,” said Muneeb Ali, co-creator of Stacks. “And you’re still debating whether developers want to build on top of Bitcoin in the future? “Bitcoin L2s are becoming more critical every day.”

“It will be great to see L2s flourish in a higher rate environment,” Held responded to Stacks executive thread X. “I think bitcoin rates are reaching a tipping point for that to happen,” Ali responded.

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El Salvador’s ‘Volcano Bond’ Gets Regulatory Approval, Aims to Launch Early Next Year

El Salvador’s innovative Bitcoin (BTC) “Volcano Bonds” have received regulatory approval and are scheduled to be launched to the public in the first quarter of next year.

El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC) says the country’s Digital Assets Commission (CNAD) approved the bonds after nearly two years of delays.

El Salvador’s pro-crypto president, Nayib Bukele, first announced in November 2021 that the Central American country would issue the bonds.

They were originally expected to launch in early 2022, but Bukele delayed them indefinitely when the BTC price fell.

The Bitcoin bonds, the first of their kind in the world, will be traded on Bitfinex Securities, according to ONBTC.

It’s not the only recent Bitcoin news for El Salvador: last week, the country launched a new “Freedom Visa Program” for high-net-worth individuals willing to shell out $1 million in BTC or USDT for a passport.

Bukele has long been a supporter of Bitcoin. El Salvador has more than $130 million in BTC, and the main crypto asset is recognized as legal tender in the country.

The president also says the country has “no intention of selling” its Bitcoin, despite BTC’s price surge this year.
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