Global asset management firm Alliance Bernstein has doubled down on its bitcoin price prediction of $150K by mid-2025. “These are still early days of bitcoin’s integration into traditional asset portfolios,” the firm’s analysts described, adding that they are “now more convinced” about their $150K price forecast for bitcoin. Bernstein’s $150K Bitcoin Prediction Bernstein analysts Gautam […]
Source link
The European Commission has initiated a comprehensive inquiry into the risks posed by generative AI technology on some of the world’s largest online platforms and search engines.
The March 14 request targets eight online services: Google Search, Microsoft Bing, Facebook, X, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
The European Commission said:
“The questions relate to both the dissemination and the creation of Generative AI content.”
These platforms have been requested to furnish detailed information on their risk management strategies, particularly in relation to AI-induced “hallucinations,” the spread of deepfakes, and the automated manipulation of content that could potentially mislead voters.
The Commission’s inquiry extends to a broad spectrum of concerns, including the impact of generative AI on electoral integrity, the spread of illegal content, the safeguarding of fundamental rights, gender-based violence, child protection, and mental health. The request encompasses both the creation and dissemination of content generated by AI technologies.
The partial focus on election issues follows the agency’s broader efforts to mitigate the risks posed by the rise of AI, including the introduction of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The DSA mandates Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) to adhere to a comprehensive set of regulations designed to combat the dissemination of illegal content and mitigate any adverse effects on fundamental rights, electoral processes, mental well-being, and child protection.
Each service must provide the requested information regarding elections by April 5 and must provide information regarding other categories by April 26.
Failure to provide accurate, complete, and transparent information may result in substantial penalties. The Commission has emphasized its authority to impose fines for any responses deemed incorrect, incomplete, or misleading.
Additionally, should the platforms fail to respond within the stipulated timeframe, the Commission could enforce compliance through a formal decision-making process, potentially leading to further financial penalties.
This initiative marks a significant step in the enforcement of the DSA and highlights the EU’s commitment to mitigating the risks associated with digital technologies and ensuring a safe online environment.
The news comes months after reports of a separate EU initiative called the Artificial Intelligence Act, which bans certain biometrics applications of AI while carving out exceptions for law enforcement.
Bitcoin has witnessed new highs in its price lately, with the premier cryptocurrency experiencing an over 60% increase since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the crypto community is abuzz with debates on whether the impending halving event is already reflected in the price. There’s a prevailing suspicion that despite bitcoin’s climb against the U.S. […]
Source link
The Dogecoin open interest rose to a new all-time high earlier in March, and while there has been a small retracement, the open interest has continued to maintain very high record levels since then. Given this continuous high level, it could point to where the price of the meme coin is headed next using historical data.
Open interest is a measure of the total number of futures or options contracts of a particular coin in the market at a give time. It can help to tell how much money is flowing into that particular asset, thereby revealing if there a high or love interest in the asset.
On Dogecoin’s part, its total open interest has been rising over the last few months, especially as the crypto market recovered, as shown by data from Coinglass. A natural consequence of this was that the price was also climbing at the same time as the open interest and thus, there is a high correlation between open interest and price.
The DOGE open interest hit a new all-time high of $1.47 billion on March 5, and the meme coin has not looked back since. Despite a small decline in the following days, the open interest is rising once again, reaching $.144 billion on March 14 and taking the price with it.
While the rise in open interest does point to a lot of bullishness in the market, historical performance during times like these also calls for caution. Taking a look at what happened the previous times that the Dogecoin open interest hit new all-time highs could give an idea of where the price is headed next.
Over the years, there have been various points at which the Dogecoin open interest has reached new all-time highs and a trend has emerged, in a manner of speaking. Looking as far back as 2021 when the open interest hit ATHs multiple time, this trend plays out similarly.
A sustained rise until a new all-time high is reached, with the price rising along, and then followed by a crash in open interest, as well as price. This was the case in September 2021 when the open interest reached a new all-time high and then again in November 2021 when it clocked another ATH.
Moving forward, the same trend is seen in October 2021 when the DOGE open rose close to its previous all-time high, but ended the same way as the previous ones – with a crash. These crashes almost always affect the DOGE price as well, causing it to drop to the levels before the surge in open interest.
If this pattern holds this time around, then a crash might be ahead for the Dogecoin open interest and the DOGE price by extension. A likely scenario is a 20% drop that could send the DOGE price back toward $0.15 before the crypto market picks up steam once again.
DOGE bulls hold up price | Source: DOGEUSDT on Tradingview.com
Featured image from Decrypt, chart from Tradingview.com
Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic revealed that the North Korea-backed hacker group Lazarus is once again using sanctioned crypto mixer Tornado Cash to obfuscate its transactions.
Last year, the group ceased using the crypto mixer after US government sanctions, which were imposed due to allegations of aiding criminals in laundering illegally obtained digital assets.
Following the sanctions, Tornado Cash saw an 85% decline in overall volume as hackers began using alternatives like Sinbad.io and cross-chain bridges.
However, the US government’s sanctions on Sinbad.io for facilitating money laundering activities of North Korean state-sponsored hacking groups have limited options for Lazarus.
Consequently, the group has turned to Tornado Cash, which has remained operational despite the US sanctions due to its decentralized nature.
Elliptic also disclosed that the group recently moved approximately $13 million in funds stolen from the HTX Exploit. These funds were transferred through Tornado Cash in over 40 transactions within the last three days, marking their first movement since the November 2023 incident.
Lazarus Group’s return to Tornado Cash reflects the government’s inability to curb the mixer’s operations effectively, according to Elliptic.
The firm explained that Tornado Cash cannot be seized and shut down like centralized mixers because it operates through smart contracts on decentralized blockchains.
Tom Robinson, the co-founder of Elliptic, added:
“The takedowns of centralized mixers by law enforcement agencies is perhaps pushing crypto laundering back towards decentralized alternatives.”
Data from DeFillama further suggests a resurgence of the platform, with the total value of assets locked reaching $565 million, marking its highest level since the US government imposed sanctions in 2022.
This uptrend is also reflected in the protocol’s native TORN token, which was trading at roughly $2 as of press time — up 13% during the past day, based on CryptoSlate data.
Meanwhile, the crypto community has rallied behind the project’s developers after multiple governments, including the US, targeted them with legal action. Notable crypto stakeholders like Coinbase have supported the developers’ legal defense.
On Thursday, the team behind BNB Chain introduced a novel Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS) offering for the development of layer two blockchains (L2s) atop the BNB Chain. The team detailed that the service equips sizable decentralized applications (dapps), enterprises, and the BNB Chain with the essential technological framework required for launching specific L2s on BNB Smart Chain […]
Source link
Despite XRP lagging in this early stage of this bull run, crypto expert Zach Rector has shared his belief and given reasons why the crypto token is still bound to perform well. He went as far as ranking the token up there with Bitcoin to drive home his point on why the token will make a run soon enough.
Rector mentioned in an X (formerly Twitter) post that XRP will not miss this bull run. In the accompanying video, the crypto expert highlighted the crypto token’s fundamentals as one of the reasons he holds this belief despite XRP’s tepid price action. Rector further claimed that the token and XRP Ledger (XRPL) have some of the best fundamentals in the crypto space.
Rector even challenged his followers to mention any other crypto token with a better fundamental than XRP. According to him, Bitcoin is the only other token that comes close to XRP in that regard. His statement echoes the sentiments of Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinhouse, who recently stated the importance of real-world utility in driving a crypto’s growth.
Meanwhile, Rector alluded to XRP’s recent pump as a sign of the great things to come for the crypto token. On March 11, XRP climbed to as high as $0.74 before seeing a sharp correction. However, the community will hope Rector’s conviction is correct, considering that XRP didn’t make any significant statement in the 2021 bull run.
As Rector noted, community members’ faith in the token is fast waning, and there is a belief that a repeat of the altcoin’s sluggish 2021 run will ultimately erode this faith. XRP getting close to or surpassing its all-time high (ATH) of $3 will be a great place to start if it is to make a run in this bull run.
Crypto analysts like Crypto Rover and Egrag Crypto had before now made bullish price predictions for XRP, which are meant to be actualized sometime around this period. On his part, Crypto Rover predicted that the altcoin would see a “massive breakout” this March. Meanwhile, Egrag predicted that XRP will rise to $5 between now and April.
Other analysts like Dark Defender have also fuelled expectations for XRP this period. Dark Defender, in particular, recently stated that the next target for toke is the $1.33 price mark and that the $1.88 and $5.85 Fibonacci targets could be attained in the upcoming weeks.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading at around $0.686, down over 1% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Token price at $0.68 | Source: XRPUSDT on Tradingview.com
Featured image from Bitcoin News, chart from Tradingview.com
Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.
On Thursday, Bitcoin’s network difficulty escalated by 5.79% at block height 834,624, signaling the year’s fourth rising adjustment. The mining difficulty now stands at an unprecedented peak of 83.95 trillion, with the forthcoming adjustment anticipated around March 27, 2024. Bitcoin Difficulty Jumps 5.79% Mining Bitcoin has reached unprecedented levels of difficulty, peaking at 83.95 trillion […]
Source link
Cardano is yet to venture into the $0.8 price level this year, despite most cryptocurrencies breaking past old price levels. Although the blockchain has seen some exciting developments, the price action has been a little bit behind when compared to its peers. However, Cardano continues to give investors a glimmer of hope, as activity keeps soaring to new highs.
On-chain data shows that the active addresses on the Cardano network are spiking, with the monthly active count reaching its highest in the past year.
Cardano’s active address count just hit a one-year high, signaling major network adoption and hinting at big things to come. According to data from Danogo, the active addresses in the past 30 days reached 596,915 on March 11, its highest since May 2023.
Interestingly, this number almost doubles the 279,000 active addresses recorded in September 2023, the lowest monthly active addresses in the past year.
Active addresses are one of the few metrics to look at when measuring the adoption rate of cryptocurrencies. Notably, various metrics have shown a surge in activity on the Cardano network and its ability to process a high number of transactions.
A further look at the chart data presented by Danogo shows that the monthly active addresses reversed to start a spike at the end of February after going on a free fall in January.
Data from Cardano Blockchain Insights tells a similar tale of increased activity, with the active daily addresses steadying above 50,000 since February 29. Active addresses in the past 24 hours were 66,970.
A similar activity metric from IntoTheBlock shows increased activity from Cardano whales. Its large transaction metric, which measures transactions greater than $100,000, puts the number of whale transactions at 6,810 in the past 24 hours and $73.86 billion in the past seven days. For comparison, Ethereum’s large transactions stand at $63.17 billion in the same time frame.
The supply in the top 1% has also shown a strong accumulation from whales, spiking by around 60 million ADA on March 10.
Interestingly, ADA has more than tripled from a $0.24 price in the monthly active addresses low in September. At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $0.79, up by 42% in the past 30 days.
ADA has been rejected at $0.8 twice this month already, but it is now on its way to retesting the price level again. If the bulls can push ADA above $0.8, this could give the cryptocurrency free rein to reach $1 for the first time since April 2022. Overall, the overall crypto market continues to retain a bullish sentiment, which could push ADA above $1 this month.
ADA price at $0.78 | Source: ADAUSDT on Tradingview.com
Featured image from Binance Academy, chart from Tradingview.com
Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.
Binance said Nigeria is not one of its top markets amid recent issues with authorities in the African country.
In a March 13 statement, the exchange revealed its extensive cooperation with local law enforcement agencies to promote the responsible growth of crypto in Nigeria.
Over the past weeks, Binance and the Nigerian authorities have been engaged in an acrimonious dispute over its operations in the region. The conflict reached a boiling point when authorities accused Binance of manipulating the local fiat currency, leading to the detention of two senior executives from the exchange.
The Richard Teng-led crypto platform said, “Nigeria is not yet one of Binance’s top markets.” However, it admitted that the country has “extraordinary potential” and hopes to keep investing in the country.
Binance’s statement is surprising, considering Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and largest economy. The African country’s young population has propelled its crypto adoption to record highs despite regulatory pushbacks, with Chainalysis ranking the country second on its global crypto adoption index.
Meanwhile, the statement is likely an attempt to challenge Nigerian authorities over their excessive demands. The government recently requested that Binance provide information on the top 100 users in the country.
Besides that, a government spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, recently suggested that the authorities might impose fines of up to $10 billion on the crypto trading platform.
Although Binance still operates in the country, the exchange has shown it can choose to exit. A few weeks ago, it suspended all Naira-related services on its platform.
Binance highlighted its cooperation with Nigerian law enforcement agencies since June 2020, revealing that it responded to 626 information requests and restricted 281 accounts belonging to Nigerian residents over suspicious activities.
According to the exchange:
“The information we provided helped a vast range of agencies, such as the Nigeria Police Force, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and INTERPOL Nigeria to tackle crimes ranging from scams and fraud to money laundering, blackmail, kidnapping, and extortion. “
The exchange also claimed to have organized physical and online training workshops for these law enforcement agencies to ensure the space’s sanctity.
Binance concluded its statement by urging the government to engage with crypto firms with a “proven track record of constructive collaboration” and allow the booming fintech industry to have “harmonious growth” with global players like itself.
