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Coinbase obtained the Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) approval from French regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). The exchange has approval to offer crypto custody and trading services to retail and institutional investors. Coinbase has received regulatory approval to offer its crypto exchange services and products in France, the firm announced on Thursday. As CoinJournal reported earlier, stablecoin issuer Circle also obtained a regulatory nod in the country. Coinbase gets approval to offer crypto in France The US-based crypto exchange said in its announcement that French regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) has granted it the Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) registration . The authorisation is a “significant milestone” in the exchange’s quest to expand its services across Europe. The VASP licence allows Coinbase to offer digital assets custody and trading to both retail and ins...

Emphasizing progress and challenges, the crypto review 2023 details crypto’s successes, failures, and notable legal and regulatory hurdles. The crypto market review 2023 reflects a transformative phase for crypto, with Bitcoin (BTC) experiencing over a 100% increase year-to-date (YTD) amid global economic challenges. This year, the number of crypto users swelled to around 575 million. Innovations weren’t scarce either, particularly in domains like stablecoins and blockchain-based social media.  While traditional stablecoins like USDT and USDC continued to dominate, platforms like friend.tech led the surge in socialfi, marking a new chapter in digital interaction. Although the crypto industry overview shows a dip in fundraising, down to $7.96 billion, it also reveals a sustained interest in derivatives trading over spot trading.  Security remained a critical focus, with a decrease in the total losses from hacks compared to previous years, yet it’s still a sign...

The U.S. Department of Justice has concluded the legal process of acquiring 69,370 bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that had been seized from the now-closed Silk Road platform. The August court decision approving the forfeiture has formally taken effect following recent filings with the federal appeals court. The confiscated crypto assets were previously controlled for years by government agencies and are currently valued at over $3 billion. In 2013, an unnamed party who allegedly accessed the holdings by bypassing Silk Road’s security voluntarily handed them over. Court documents list Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht as a defendant in the forfeiture case, alongside two other claimants, with the U.S. government named as plaintiff. Also read: Coinbase CEO States Why Being Anti-Crypto is a Bad Political Strategy Silk Road was permanently shut down in 2013 Silk Road was permanently shut down in 2013 after an FBI investigation. According to authorities, the site had enable...

Millions of XRP have been sent into exchanges, suggesting a price decline for the token. Analysts believe that these whales’ transfers cannot suppress the XRP price action. Should accumulation increase, XRP’s first target may be $0.70. Ripple (XRP) tokens worth $13.32 million have been transferred from an unknown wallet to the Bitstamp exchange, Whale Alert posted on X. The transaction which occurred on December 20 came at a time when XRP was trading at $0.61. However, the transaction was only one of many large transfers involving XRP. On December 18, a similar transaction took place, involving 26.20 million XRP, and like the recent one, the destination of those tokens was BitStamp. Impending Sell-Offs Can’t Stop XRP These movements have brought speculation to the crypto market that XRP may drop below $0.60. This is largely because the transactions indicate a potential sell-off while XRP risks a price decline as a result.  Despite the possibil...

Solana has been bullish since October but faces resistance at $75 Memeinator sale has accelerated, with a 10% Christmas bonus for presale buyers. Memeinator is a potential 10x and 50x gainer. With double-digit gains in the past week and a bullish market since October, Solana holders must be happy. For a token that traded at just $19 in early October, a current price of $75 is worth attention. But how long can SOL market price gains continue? We get to the details and let you know more about the tantalising  Memeinator presale , now on Stage 9. Solana faces bear test at $75 Undoubtedly, Solana has been one of the  best cryptocurrencies by returns in the last quarter of 2023. The gains have been fueled by network activity. A  market report shows that the daily user activity on Solana rose by n early 400% in the fourth quarter. The growth was a massive leap compared to just 3% for its close competitor, Ethereum.  User activity on ...

With January 2024 fast approaching, the crypto currency sector as a whole is starting to look bullish, led by the price gains of its representative asset that is back on track around the $43,000 threshold and has pushed the industry’s market capitalization to $1.62 trillion. With this in mind, Finbold has analyzed the crypto currency sphere to arrive at the list of three crypto assets worthy of consideration by crypto traders and investors as the best purchase choices during the upcoming first month of the new year. #1 Bitcoin (BTC) Although Bitcoin (BTC) has already surpassed the massively important price level at $43,000, already measuring a 160% increase since the start of 2023, it may not be too late to profit off the potential bullish rally that could follow the halving event and the possible approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Bitcoin 1-year market cap chart. Source: CoinMarketCap As things stand, the flagship decentralized finance (DeFi) asset is curre...

A widely followed crypto analyst says the next altcoin cycle is likely around the corner but notes that there may be a pullback first. In a new strategy session, Nicholas Merten, the host of DataDash, tells his 511,000 YouTube subscribers that key indicators suggest the total market cap of all crypto assets sans the top two digital assets, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) (TOTAL3), is performing the best. “Out of all of these metrics, all these indices that we track within crypto market cap and the different sectors of crypto – TOTAL3 – the real kind of altcoin space that is excluding Ethereum and Bitcoin, has been performing the best… The more I look at this, I continue to believe that small caps – particularly the two sectors [of] Bitcoin-related infrastructure and meme coins – are the place to go… Total three, while making a nice sizable move, is made up of a larger pool of altcoins, so we’ve got a lot of small midcaps that can make some much more substa...

A network of ISIS -supporting jihadists that transacted €200,000 worth of crypto while being funded by criminals in Europe was dismantled by Spanish police this weekend.  According to Spain’s National Police Agency, five people allegedly involved with DAESH terrorists, otherwise known as ISIS, were arrested on Saturday as part of a two-and-a-half-year terrorist investigation. In this period, the group allegedly planned two terror attacks and financed jihadists with crypto through international shipments made from criminal activities within Europe. Police reportedly seized €200,000 in crypto from the group.  One of the arrested individuals was reportedly radicalized in the months before their arrest and was close to carrying out an attack. When police searched their home, they discovered handgun ammunition and an axe. Police added that “Manuals for making explosives, manuals for indoctrination of minors and jihadist propaganda have also been seized from those detained.” ...

Solana-based Aurory loses 80% liquidity in Camelot’s AURY-USDC pool. SyncSpace bridge hacked; $600k AURY withdrawn and market-sold on Arbitrum. Swift response disables SyncSpace, safeguarding user funds, with ongoing investigations. In some disturbing crypto news, Aurory, a Solana-based gaming ecosystem, has fallen victim to a significant security breach resulting in an 80% loss of liquidity in its AURY-USDC pool. The breach targeted the SyncSpace Aurory Bridge on Camelot’s native DEX Arbitrum, prompting a swift response from the project team. Here’s a breakdown of the incident and the measures being taken. SyncSpace Aurory Bridge hack The Aurory team detected suspicious activity on its marketplace, leading to the discovery of the exploit in the platform’s buy endpoint. The malicious actor managed to manipulate the SyncSpace Aurory bridge, boosting their $AURY balance and withdrawing approximately 600k tokens to the Arbitrum networ...

The collective market cap for meme coins dropped more than 4% over the past 24 hours. SHIB managed to record an 8+% gain in the past 24 hours, while BONK and DOGE suffered losses. Technical indicators for BONK, SHIB and DOGE suggest that their prices will correct soon. The collective market cap for meme coins increased more than 4% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. This boosted the total valuation for the meme coin market to above $24.128 billion at press time. Throughout the past day of trading, Shiba Inu (SHIB) saw its price rise 8.82%. Meanwhile, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Bonk (BONK) saw their prices drop 0.02% and 12.82% respectively. Daily chart for SHIB/USDT (Source: TradingView) SHIB managed to break above the major resistance level at $0.00001055 over the past 24 hours. Since closing yesterday’s trading session off at $0.00001160, the meme coin has recorded a 6.72% drop in price.  If SHIB is able to remain above the recently...

Ali Martinez revealed that the TD Sequential on MANA’s weekly chart is presenting a sell signal. The analyst shared that the indicator has been a reliable tool for identifying price bottoms. MANA was trading hands at $0.4912 at press time after it dropped 2.46%. The cryptocurrency trader and analyst Ali Martinez revealed in an X post yesterday that the weekly chart for Decentraland (MANA) is presenting a sell signal. In the post, the analyst shared that the TD Sequential on the altcoin’s weekly chart suggests that MANA may be “gearing up for a price correction”. #Decentraland | Since June 2023, the TD Sequential has been a reliable tool for pinpointing local bottoms on $MANA weekly chart. However, the indicator now shows a sell signal, hinting that #MANA might be gearing up for a price correction. pic.twitter.com/9lLQm19fw1 — Ali (@ali_charts) December 15, 2023 According to Martinez, the TD Sequential has been a reliable tool for “pinpointing local...

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only. Litecoin (LTC) is firm as the crypto community awaits the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve the first Bitcoin ETF. While all eyes are on this development, Pullix (PLX), a crypto project, has sold over 2.2 million tokens in stage 2 of its presale.  Litecoin price analysis Litecoin has been rallying since the start of December, rising from $69 on Dec.1 to $72 on Dec. 13.  At the same time, it processed – 3 million transactions in one week.  The Litecoin Network just completed over 3 million transactions in less than a week. pic.twitter.com/FhQBGIe4vI — Litecoin (@litecoin) December 12, 2023 This growth can be attributed to the hype surrounding the potential approval of a Bitcoin ETF.  You might also like: Litecoin celebrates milestones amid declining prices Based on historical prices,...

Solana’s crypto phone Saga is sold out for the US market. Demand has surged amid BONK price gains. Buyers of the Saga phone get 30 million free BONK tokens. The Solana Mobile team has announced that its crypto phone Saga is officially sold out in the US, with only a few of these suddenly in demand devices left for the Europe an market. The Android phone was launched in May. Why is Solana Saga seeing this much hype and demand? On December 13, the price of BONK, a meme coin on Solana, skyrocketed to a new all-time high as crypto exchange Coinbase announced trading support. Binance is also listing BONK as the meme coin craze catches on again. Amid the meme coin’s price hike, traders out to benefit from a free 30 million bonk airdrop for anyone purchasing the phone, FOMO’ed into frenzied buying. Solana tried to make it possible for as many people as possible to buy its crypto phone by “limiting” sales to one device per househo...

In the last 24 hours, the BONK coin has seen a surge north of 52%. The token is themed around Shiba Inu and Solana, and its recent momentum signals a potential breakout coming. The rise in the price of BONK comes after the crypto has fallen in demand. The gain brought BONK to a resistance zone of $0.0000149. This price action raises the question: was the lack of a bullish surge enough to wipe away the past 24 hours of gains, or is this the start of a major breakout for the next big crypto? Source: NFT Evening Also Read: Dogecoin Whales Purchase $127 Million Worth of DOGE BONK Coin Surge: Will It Continue to Breakout? The BONK price surge came after the project introduced single-sided staking, as well as Coinbase listing the crypto coin. A breakout past the $0.0000149 level and a retest would offer a buying opportunity targeting the 61.8% Fibonacci extension level at $0.0000219 for BONK. Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) are the most popular memecoins and dog-themed cryp...

Greed is again a dominating sentiment after a retracement earlier this week, with most crypto currency projects showing bullish signals. However, data retrieved by Finbold from CoinGlass ’s long/short ratio on December 14 shows that a few crypto currencies remain dominated by short positions. Considering the sentiment shift, such a scenario in the derivative market could lead to short squeeze s. Particularly, Jito (JTO) and Unifi Protocol (UNFI) record a high weight of short-selling volume. This becomes even more relevant considering both tokens’ relatively low 24-hour volume and market capitalization. Will Jito (JTO) face a short squeeze? The JTO token is currently trading at $3.03, up 12% in the day. Surprisingly, it is still dominated by short over long positions in both the 12 and 24-hour time frames. Cryptocurrency Coinbase to globally expand its crypto trading services Cryptocurrency Google Bard predicts BNB price for January 1, 2024 ...

Bitwise Asset Management has become the latest firm to have its spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) listed on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) under the ticker name $BITB. The move is in a positive direction as chances of a spot BTC ETF approval in the US have significantly increased. Bitwise now joins Fidelity, whose spot BTC ETF was listed on the DTCC last week. Also Read: Fidelity’s Spot Bitcoin ETF Listed on DTCC JUST IN: Bitwise Spot #Bitcoin ETF has been listed on the DTCC under ticker $BITB. pic.twitter.com/WWR1wCbtDS — Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) December 14, 2023 Although a spot BTC ETF in the US is yet to face approval, Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, said that the team is “ preparing as though there’s going to be a launch. ” Hougan also stated, “ We’re preparing marketing and sales strategies and press and all those things, and we’re working with regulators to t...