Bitcoin falls below the 20-day EMA, deeper correction expected
Uncertainty returned to the crypto market last week when the US SEC alleged that Binance USD (BUSD) is unregistered and subsequently, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) ordered Paxos to stop issuing BUSD.
This news, along with the crackdown on Kraken last week, is the cause for nervousness among traders and may have helped stall Bitcoin’s recovery. At the start of the week, BTC found itself near the $23,000 mark, however, by Feb. 10, it had dropped to $21,600.
BTC attempted to recover, reaching a peak of $22,090, but dropped again. Bitcoin trades at $21,750 at the time of writing. Support lies at the 50DMA ($20,500). A bounce from that level could see Bitcoin again rally to $21,700 and test the 20-day EMA.
Binance Improves Proof-of-Reserves Verification With zk-SNARKs Integration
In the aftermath of the FTX fiasco, proof-of-reserves became a necessity for the world’s biggest crypto exchanges. Binance was among the first to adopt a Merkle-tree-based PoR verification system.
However, Binance announced a significant upgrade to its verification system last week. The update will integrate zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge Succinct Non-interactive Argument of Knowledge), a cryptographic method that enables one party to prove their assets to another without disclosing any other information.
Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, attests that the zk-SNARKs upgrade will bring a higher level of privacy and security to the platform. Binance has promised to make the technology open source with a view to making it available for anyone in the industry, thus bringing greater transparency and assurance to crypto users.
Ethereum Staking Service Hits $1 Billion in Total Value Locked
Since the Merge, crypto users have been flocking to Ethereum’s PoS network. Subsequently, services allowing users to make the most of the network have popped up too, one of them being Rocket Pool.
Launched in 2021, Rocket Pool is a ”liquid staking solution” – it allows users to join a decentralized node operator or operate their own nodes with a significantly reduced capital requirement.
Last week, Rocket Pool hit $1 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL). Users can join decentralized node operators for as low as 0.01 ETH, and they can run their own nodes for 16 ETH as opposed to 32 ETH on the PoS layer.
Currently, Rocket Pool has 385,344 ETH staked and 2,068 node operators, with smart contracts audited by leading firms and a bug bounty program in place.