Crypto Price Check: Bitcoin Flat, Aptos Has a Rocky Launch
Cryptocurrency prices were a bit sluggish on October 20, while a newcomer had a tough debut.
Bitcoin at last check barely moved the needle at $19,044.37, according to data firm CoinGecko. Ether, the native currency of the ethereum blockchain, was flat at $1,284.83, while dogecoin was up nearly 1% at $0.059928.
“Sitting on the Sidelines”
“Bitcoin’s price continues to remain roughly flat as investors are clearly waiting to see if the current wedge will result in a breakout or further leg down,” said James Edwards, crypto editor at Finder.
“Until then, most traders will probably sit on the sidelines with cash and wait for the market to show a clear sign of where it will go next.”
However, he added that “Bitcoin’s stability against the ever-strengthening US dollar should be seen as an achievement, and perhaps in some ways a win.”
“While many major foreign currencies have fallen against the dollar in recent weeks, bitcoin’s resilience is an interesting sign of continued market confidence from its holder,” he said. “It’s important to remember that bitcoin is also a buy-and-hold asset, so volatility — or lack thereof — isn’t always the most interesting factor at play.”
Meanwhile, Edwards said, Aptos, the new layer-1 blockchain created by a team of former Meta developers who worked on Facebook’s Diem project, had a rocky launch, “despite considerable hype.”
Aptos had opened at around $12. It was recently up 2.2% to $7.22.
“The main reason for the rocky launch revolved around two things: the team had not released the tokenomics model, and the network was significantly slower than promised,” Edwards said.
Removes FUD
Aptos developer Mo Shaikh had to take to Twitter to release the tokenomics plan and try to dispel FUD – fear, uncertainty and doubt.
“Given the importance of tokenomics to investors and the time it took to prepare for launch, this is extremely bad for Aptos, and Crypto Twitter didn’t let them off the hook,” Edwards said.
“Almost all of Crypto Twitter was united in bashing Aptos for its lackluster launch, which feels somewhat deserved given the project’s significant publicity and the $350 million in funding it received,” he added.
Aptos is trying to market itself as a solana killer as much as an ethereum killer, Edwards said, “meaning it’s going for the upper limit of transactions per second with the team claiming the chain can support 160,000 tps, almost 3 times as much as Solana’s. advertised speed or almost 7 times faster than Visa.” (V)
“Despite these grand claims, an anonymous developer is named Paradigm Engineer 420 reports that Aptos’ tps was closer to 4 tps on launch day,” he said.
MasterCard (MA) unveiled its Crypto Source program on October 17 which is meant to make things more even between banks and crypto investors.
“Compliance and Security”
“Cryptocurrencies were meant to disrupt banks and middlemen like Mastercard and Visa, but now Mastercard is making it easier for banks to get involved – to bring crypto to the masses who are interested in decentralized cryptocurrencies,” said Winston Ma, managing partner. from CloudTree Ventures.
Ma said Mastercard will act as a bridge between Paxos, a crypto trading platform already used by PayPal, (PYPL) and banks. Mastercard and Paxos will handle regulatory compliance and security — “two core reasons banks cite for avoiding offering cryptocurrency trading to their customers,” he said.
“It is interesting to see that trust in decentralized Web3 still has to come from large financial institutions to some extent,” said Ma, author of “Blockchain and Web3: Building the Cryptocurrency, Privacy, and Security Foundations of the Metaverse.”
David Lesperance, managing partner of immigration and tax advisory at Lesperance & Associates, noted the case of crypto exchange FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. Both are the subject of an investigation by the Texas State Securities Board for allegedly offering unregistered securities products in the United States through their income-bearing services.
“The predictable has now happened, with US regulators investigating whether a crypto exchange and its founder broke laws related to the sale of unregistered securities,” he said.
“Horrible Memories”
The investigation focuses on whether FTX illegally offered Texas accounts that pay interest on crypto deposits. Lesperance said that “TSSB Enforcement Director Joe Rotunda takes the position that the accounts are securities and that FTX should have registered with the state before registering the residents.”
Lesperance said state regulators being ahead of the federal government is “eerily reminiscent” of the online gambling industry, which eventually came under fire from regulators.
“The SBF would do well to remember that David Carruthers, CEO of one of the largest online betting companies, was arrested at an airport in Texas and subsequently served a 33-month sentence,” he said, referring to BetOnSports CEO.
By contrast, Calvin Ayre, who launched the online gambling company Bodog, stayed out of the US while his lawyers negotiated with US regulators and later paid a fine, Lesperance said.
“Just as Ayre’s preparation for regulation resulted in his ongoing personal freedom and his company not only surviving but thriving, the actions taken by founders across the cryptosphere will determine who will remain in business in the future,” he said.
