Bitcoin Rises Briefly as Fed Chair Promises More Rate Hikes

 The Federal Reserve may have to keep rate hikes going for longer than previously expected. 

Jerome Powell – Chairman of the Federal Reserve – recently spoke about the future of macroeconomic policy and U.S. inflation at the Brooking Institution.

As is typical, Bitcoin’s price was affected by his comments, rising by 1% just as his speech began. 

As of 18:13 UDT on Wednesday, Bitcoin traded for $16,780.

The price then shot up to $16,850 at 18:30, when he began to speak. By 18:40, the leading crypto asset traded for $16,960.

Over the past 3 months, the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate in intervals of 75 basis points at a time. The current rate, according to Federal Reserve data, is 3.83%. 

Before the speech, Powell was expected to reinforce his message supporting continued interest rate hikes, which would slow to 50 basis points starting in December. On Wednesday, his message was even more hawkish:

“We anticipate that ongoing increases will be appropriate,” he stated. “It seems to me likely that the ultimate level of rates will need to be somewhat higher than thought at the time of the September meeting, and the summer of economic projections.”

Powell noted that the path forward for inflation remains “highly uncertain,” and that there would be “more ground to cover” in this regard. 

CPI inflation clocked in at 7.7% as of October, beating economists’ expectations at the time.

FTX Hacker Transfers $4.1 Million in Bitcoin to OKX

The FTX hacker appears to have moved some of the stolen bridged assets to OKX. 

On-chain sleuth ZackXBT has tracked down some of the mixed Bitcoin funds stolen by the mysterious FTX hacker this month. 

The analyst found that $4.1 million worth of Bitcoin (255 BTC) has ended up on OKX, a cryptocurrency exchange. 

As explained on Twitter, the hacker initially deposited the stolen funds to CoinMixer – an anonymous Bitcoin mixing service designed to make on-chain Bitcoin transfers harder to track. 

The first CoinMixer deposit was made on November 20th after the attacker used Ren Bridge to move assets from Ethereum’s blockchain to Bitcoin’s. As of Tuesday, there is $7 million in ETH remaining on the address. 

After examining the deposits, ZackXBT said that the hacker had likely transferred those funds to OKX, after withdrawing from the mixer. 

“So far we’ve accounted for at least $4.1m (255 BTC) sent to OKX,” he said.

 The analyst further elaborated that 50% of funds were “peeled off” post CoinMixer withdrawal, as another 50% were sent to OKX. 

The FTX hacker drained over $400 million in funds from the exchange just hours after it declared bankruptcy on November 11th. It has since commenced numerous swaps and bridge transfers obscuring the trail of the funds. 

At one point, the exploiter’s address became the 35th largest holder of ETH, though the attacker’s identity remains unknown. 

Bahamian regulators claimed earlier this month that they were the ones behind the hack, having directed the transfer of funds to its own wallet for “safekeeping.” However, some suspect that this could be an inside job.  

WBTC Depegs From BTC: The Fear Is Real

 Bitcoin-backed Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) tokens have been trading at a discount compared to their Bitcoin backing ever since the fall of major crypto exchange FTX.

Market data provided by Done shows that Wrapped Bitcoin has been consistently trading at a discount compared to the value of the underlying Bitcoin ever since the fall of major crypto exchange FTX. WBTC’s price broke under the full value of a Bitcoin on Nov. 12 and its value compared to Bitcoin has seen a sharp increase in volatility ever since.

WBTC has reached its peak discount compared to Bitcoin on Nov. 26, when it was worth nearly 1% less than Bitcoin despite its supposed one-to-one BTC backing. As of press time, WBTC is trading at a 0.19% discount compared to the underlying Bitcoin.

One possible reason for this discount is that the fall of FTX generated a significant — and healthy — degree of distrust towards custodial solutions that resulted in a significant increase in the WBTC selling pressure. This idea is further backed by Messari data showing an 8.82% decrease in WBTC supply from 238,000 on Nov. 12 down to 217,000 as of press time.

Looking at more data shows that the role of FTX’s bankruptcy — which also brought down its sister investment firm Alameda Research down with it — is much more direct than just causing panic. Dune data shows that Alameda research is both the top WBTC minter and burner, meaning that the bankrupt institution created more and destroyed more Wrapped Bitcoin than any other entity.

Alameda Research minted 101,746 WBTC and burned 29,435 WBTC to withdraw the underlying BTC — exercising negative market pressure on both WBTC and Bitcoin. Furthermore, Alameda Research also has 72,310 WBTC to burn and — consequently — Bitcoin to sell while trying to recover assets to pay off its creditors.

Mitsubishi Logistics creates blockchain tracker for delivery

Mitsubishi Logistics has harnessed the power of blockchain to allow its clients to track their shipments to ensure that outsourced pharmaceutical shipments are kept in proper conditions throughout. 

Mitsubishi launches ML Chain System to streamline pharmaceutical drugs distribution

Mitsubishi has developed the ML Chain blockchain system to help streamline the transport of drugs.  Through this technology, its clients can even view the temperature of shipments when they change hands and other crucial details.

The new ML Chain can track shipments from pharmaceutical manufacturing plants and logistics centers to distributors. Takeda Pharmaceutical is already utilizing it in Japan for some of its goods.

The motors company has seen that via blockchain technology can help in the transmission of tamper-proof data globally and decided to leverage it. Its new distributed ledger technology foreshadows more applications of blockchain technology to expect in the near future.

More to the story

In the future, Mitsubishi Logistics also wants to broaden ML Chain to include shipments across international borders and delivery from wholesalers to pharmacies and hospitals. It considers the platform a precaution against counterfeit medications and a way to assist with quality control and inventory management.

In addition, the Mitsubishi group firm will think about utilizing ML Chain to aid in developing new, secure direct-to-consumer distribution channels. It will assess data gathered via the platform to enhance supply chains.

To ensure that medications are transported safely and effectively, authorities worldwide call for stronger regulations. 2018 saw the adoption of GDP guidelines by the Japanese government. With the introduction of COVID-19, there is a greater need than ever for the safe carriage of medications and vaccines.

Mitsubishi Logistics finished a medical product distribution facility in the city of Ibaraki, which is close to Osaka, by the end of October. The company announced this month that it would develop its GDP-compliant service architecture for delivering medicinal items at room temperature. It will enhance the number of places served by expanding its fleet of delivery vehicles.

According to the Yano Research Institute, the market for logistics outsourcing services for the industries producing pharmaceuticals and medical equipment reached 110 billion yen ($778 million) in fiscal 2020, an increase of 3.8% from the previous year. There is an increasing trend to choose distributors based on their quality-control systems as the number of pharmaceuticals supplied and the rate of outsourcing to distribution firms increase. 

Tezos Foundation partners with Unity to expand Web3 gaming reach

 The Tezos Foundation has announced a professional services agreement with game engine developer, Unity. The strategic partnership with Unity’s Accelerate Solutions will see to the development of a Web3 Blockchain SDK for games and dApps, according to a press release on November 25, 2022.

Tezos (XTZ) x Unity join forces 

While the crypto winter of 2022 has continued to hit Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies hard, Web3 gaming has continued to see increased adoption, and now, the Tezos Foundation is joining forces with Unity, a leading game engine developer, to bring the next wave of users into Web3 gaming and more.

Per a press release by the team, the energy-efficient Tezos blockchain signed professional services deal with Unity’s Accelerate Solutions group earlier in May 2022, for the creation of a new Web3 blockchain software development kit (SDK).

If approved, the Tezos Foundation and Tezos Ecosystem teams plan to offer the Web3 Blockchain SDK as a Verified Solution and an optional Web3 game development plug-in via the Unity Asset Store.

Cross Platform Availability 

Notably, the team has made it clear that the new Tezos Web3 blockchain SDK will be available across all platforms, including Desktop computers, Android and iOS devices, and Web browsers.

In addition to enabling Unity developers to build Web3 games, the SDK will also support the development of decentralized applications (dApps) on the energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) based Tezos blockchain. 

Commenting on the Tzos-Unity alliance, Jermy Foo, Global Head of Gaming at TriliTech, a Tezos-focused blockchain research and development hub said:

“We are thrilled to see the creation of a Tezos SDK in collaboration with Unity’s Professional Services team, bringing the option of Web3 gaming to the most popular game development platform. This is the first comprehensive blockchain SDK co-developed with Unity, providing game developers with an easy-to-use, complete solution for adding a wide range of Web3 features that will make the game more fun for gamers.”

Thanks to its low carbon footprint, the Tezos blockchain has seen increased adoption by a vast array of leading brands in the real world of late, including popular American pizza restaurants, Papa John’s, English Premier League giant, Manchester United, and a host of others.

At the time of writing, the price of Tezos’ native XTZ token is hovering around $0.97, with a market cap of $892.85 million, according to CoinMarketCap.

BlockFi Files for Bankruptcy Following FTX Crash

 It almost seemed inevitable following everything that happened with FTX.

Another former cryptocurrency giant has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States.

Thus, BlockFi has followed the example of companies like Celsius and Three Arrows Capital.

The cryptocurrency lender’s troubles began as the bear market intensified earlier this year, especially after the Terra collapse.

There seemed to be a lifeboat thrown by FTX a few months down the road as the exchange provided a $400 million loan to BlockFi and had the option to purchase the company for up to $240 later on.

However, the once SBF-led giant crashed spectacularly earlier this month, which led to a new wave of problems.

Some reports emerged claiming that BlockFi was exploring filing for bankruptcy, but company reps refuted them at first.

Yet, the crypto lender has indeed filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a New Jersey court, as reported by CNBC.

The filing reads that BlockFi had over 100,000 creditors and its liabilities were somewhere between $1 billion and $10 billion.

“We do have significant exposure to FTX and associated corporate entities that encompasses obligations owed to us by Alameda, assets held at FTX.com, and undrawn amounts from our credit line with FTX.US.” – a company spokesman had previously said.

This year has already seen its fair share of bankruptcy filings in the crypto industry. Celsius was among the first, followed by 3AC, Voyager, and more.

Andre Cronje on What’s it Like to be a Crypto Company

 Fantom was forced to become extremely frugal during the 2018 bear market, but later recovered using decentralized finance. 

Andre Cronje – the so-called “Vice President of Memes” for the Fantom Foundation – provided an insider’s view into how the company has remained cash-flow positive across the past 4 years. 

The developer noted that the foundation would “likely not be operational today” without decentralized finance (DeFi), and suspects the same is true for other firms. 

Scaling Over One Cycle

As explained in a blog post from Cronje on Sunday, Fantom ended 2018 with a fairly unprofitable ETH trade. After raising $40,000,000 worth of the cryptocurrency in June, it sold those holding after a major price correction leading up to December. At this point, the firm had less than $5 million remaining. 

This forced the company to become extremely frugal over the following year, while periodically selling some of its native FTM tokens to fund unplanned expenses. Its primary costs during this time were related to paying off listing fees to exchanges and sponsorship fees to influencers. 

“We decide[d] to never pay for exchange listings or influencers again,” wrote Cronje. 

Starting in February 2020, Fantom began “aggressively” participating in DeFi, using its profits to purchase FTM off the market. By March, the company was already earning 20% APY on $3  million in funds, making for $600,000 per year. Combined with yield farming later that year on both Compound (COMP) and Synthetix (SNX), the foundation brought its treasury holdings back to $51 million by the start of 2021. 

The firm later sold $35 million worth of FTM to the now-bankrupt Alameda Research, and another $5 million of the asset to Blocktower. It denied Alameda’s requests for further cooperation going forwards. 

By October 2022, the firm held $100 million in stablecoins, $100 million in crypto assets, and $50 million in non-crypto assets. 

Like Fantom, many crypto firms were forced to downsize when the bear market returned in 2022. Coinbase slashed 18% of its workforce, while BitMEX laid off 30%.

Lessons Learned

According to Cronje, businesses shouldn’t try to compete with others for token listings on exchanges.  “We prefer buying our token, we don’t “sell” our tokens for “partnerships,” he said. 

“Blockchain companies, realistically, only make money by selling their token,” Cronje added. “These are finite models.”

Rather, the foundation took an approach of focusing on “infinite” models, including how given partnerships or project launches might affect the company ten years down the line. 

“If your entire revenue model is selling your token, you are doing a disservice to yourself, your blockchain, and your supporters,” he concluded. 

Earlier this month, both FTT and SRM collapsed by 90% and 60% respectively after FTX filed for bankruptcy. The firm has been highly criticized for heavily relying on each of these tokens, which once accounted for billions of dollars on its balance sheet.