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It's been another interesting week in crypto with the largest ever U.S. government fine of $4.3 billion dollars against Binance.
While you may think this may have negatively affected the market, Bitcoin reached a high of over $38k this week, the crypto market is largely in the green and the fear and greed index increased 10 points, to 73.
We also saw some of the largest gains all year take place this week within the small-cap market (see bottom of article).
Binance Fined $4.3 Billion & CZ Steps Down.
Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder and CEO of Binance, has stepped down after pleading guilty to federal criminal charges of violating and causing a financial institution to violate the Bank Secrecy Act, according to the plea agreement.
To put this into perspective, this $4.3 billion dollar fine is the largest penalty ever to be collected by the US Treasury Department and is also more than double the $1.92 billion HSBC paid when they were caught laundering money for the Mexican drug cartels.
$4.3 billion fine for enabling US customers to use Binance (a foreign company at the time) without proper know-your-customer checks - Or is there more to the story?
WEF Taking Control of Binance?
As a consequence, "CZ" Zhao has stepped down from his leadership role and pleaded guilty to violating US anti-money laundering laws and will likely face up to 18 months in prison and also be required to pay a $50 million dollar fine.
What makes this story more interesting is that he will be replaced by Richard Teng, who also happens to be a member of the World Economic Forum.
This is in addition to Catherine Coley, who is also a WEF member and the CEO of Binance.US.
Of course, it's also just a coincidence just a day later Grayscale and Blackrock also met with the SEC to talk about Bitcoin ETFs.
There is growing speculation that further crackdowns on large crypto exchanges will take place before the Bitcoin EFT is approved (Approval for the Bitcoin EFT is not anticipated to happen until early 2024).
Is this simply large organizations like Blackrock and the WEF shuffling to take control of this burgeoning industry, or is it part of a larger plan toward what many are referring to as the New Quantum Financial System?
I guess only time will tell, but in the meantime, the crypto market is taking this news well with the view that greater regulatory control is good for the crypto market.
Join Us - As We Accumulate
Now is still an excellent time to get into the market while prices are still relatively low. If you want to know what we are buying, you are more than welcome to join us as we share our monthly Altcoin picks in anticipation of the upcoming bull run - You just need to become a member.
Richard.
Top 100 Trending Altcoins:
The crypto market is full of green again this week,
Today's Crypto Fear & Greed Index:
Today's Crypto Fear and Greed Index = Greed –> Increased to 73 (from 63 last week).
Bitcoin & Ethereum Price Movement
Bitcoin has increased 2.73% in the last week, currently trading at $37,749. In the previous 90 days, Bitcoin has increased by 44.44%.
Ethereum has increased 6.45% in the last week, currently trading at $2,083. In the previous 90 days, Ethereum has increased by 25.7%.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalization has increased to $1.43T (from $1.37T last week).
Top 100 Gainers - Last 7 Days
Over the last 7 days, the biggest gainers (within the top 100):
Blur (BLUR) +76% - Ranked #75
Blur (BLUR) is a governance token for the Blur platform, a unique NFT marketplace, and aggregator offering advanced features like real-time price feeds and portfolio management. Launched in October 2022, it gained attention through a series of airdrops to active users, notably impacting its price in February 2023.
Blur stands out for its approach to NFT creator royalties, offering incentives for royalty payments and allowing full royalty collections under specific conditions, which appeals to both professional traders and new entrants. Operating as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain secured by Proof-of-Stake, Blur has 360 million tokens in circulation out of a 3 billion maximum supply. This extensive circulation and market activity highlight Blur's significance in the cryptocurrency and NFT sectors.
STEPN (GMT) +37% - Ranked #95
STEPN (GMT) is an innovative project that combines fitness, gaming, and blockchain technology. It operates on a "move-to-earn" model where users earn rewards for physical activities like walking, jogging, or running, tracked through a GPS-enabled app. The platform integrates NFTs, requiring users to purchase NFT sneakers to participate and earn rewards. STEPN utilizes a dual-token system with Green Satoshi Tokens (GST) for in-app activities and Green Metaverse Tokens (GMT) for governance.
The primary goal of STEPN is to promote health and wellness by incentivizing physical activity. It aims to create a sustainable ecosystem that balances earning and consuming tokens. The platform also focuses on community building and includes gamified elements to enhance the user experience.
Klaytn (KLAY) +31% - Ranked #71
Klaytn (KLAY) is a public blockchain platform developed by Ground X, a South Korean internet giant Kakao subsidiary. It aims to bridge the gap between enterprise needs and blockchain technology, offering a hybrid model that combines the benefits of both public and private blockchains. Its governance structure, focus on high throughput, and commitment to user-friendly experiences make it a notable platform for enterprises looking to integrate blockchain technology into their operations.
Mina (MINA) +31% - Ranked #63
Mina (MINA) is a blockchain platform renowned for being the smallest in the world, maintaining a constant size of approximately 22 KB. This is achieved through zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge), which compress the entire blockchain into a fixed-size cryptographic proof.
Biggest Micro-Cap Gainers in the last 30 days
We review and analyze small and micro market cap cryptos every week looking for the next low-cap gem. These are the best-performing (quality) micro-cap projects over the last 30 days:
Best Performing Quality Micro Caps (Last 30 days):
- GOXF - +3,669% - DeFi Exchange Platform (Micro-Cap)
- HUSKY +1,821% - Dog NFT on Avalanche (Nano-Cap)
- 3ULL +1,292% - Gaming Ecosystem (Micro-Cap)
- GMEE +952% - Arcade Blockchain Games (Micro-Cap)
- LIKE +859% - OnlyFans for Twitter (Nano-Cap)
- DFL +557% - DeFi Metaverse Project (Micro-Cap)
Monthly Altcoin Pick:
Next week we will be releasing the latest Altcoin Pick - Don't miss out on this one!
If you would like access to this and future monthly Altcoin picks, consider becoming a member - It's only the price of a couple of cups of coffee a month.
Altcoin picks are emailed to members as soon as they are published. If you are wondering how we choose our monthly Altcoin Picks - this is the methodology we use.
Our Altcoin Picks for the prior months can be found here.
Thanks and appreciation to all our members!
Until the next report,
Richard.
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