• The market intelligence platform Santiment recently reported a large transfer of Tether’s stablecoin USDT over the past years, with eight out of the massive transaction recorded exceeding a value of more than $1 billion.
• Whale’s massive transfers could be due to their concerns over the stability of USDC, a stablecoin issued by Circle who recently reported a $3 billion exposure to troubled Silicon Valley Bank.
• Bitcoin (BTC) was still seen moving in a bearish trend last week due to negative news such as Silvergate suspending services and KuCoin Lawsuit setting dangerous precedent for Ethereum.

What Are The Whales Up To Now?

According to a report from the market intelligence platform Santiment, a large transfer of Tether’s stablecoin USDT has soared over the past years, with eight out of the massive transaction recorded exceeding a value of more than $1 billion. While many have wondered about the reason behind the odd spike in the market despite a reason for a plummet, Santiment’s latest report revealed that this surge in the market could be due to whales’ massive transfers as out of these large transactions was seen to have taken place in the last ten days. Though many crypto enthusiasts have argued that these large transactions may have been used to move the market or as an exchange for Bitcoin (BTC), Santiment suggested instead that it was likely due to whales’ concerns over the stability of USDC, a stablecoin issued by Circle who recently reported a $3 billion exposure to troubled Silicon Valley Bank.

Circle’s Troubled Exposure & HSBC UK Acquisition

Related Reading: Silvergate Halts Crypto Payments After Suffering $1 Billion Loss Though Circle has announced the recovery of its $3 billion exposure, Silicon Valley is still experiencing financial run and on Monday, HSBC UK – ring-fenced subsidiary acquired Silicon Valley Bank UK for £1 ($1.21). Santiment noted that “bank collapse and USDC concerns” have made “big contributors” in the market move their “USDT off exchanges at rapid rate.”

Bitcoin (BTC) In A Week

As of last week, Bitcoin (BTC) was still seen moving in bearish trend as negative news intensified. Silvergate which offered industry payments network that allowed customers to exchange U.S dollars between crypto exchange accounts 24/7 matched liquidity needs suspended services and shut down while one KuCoin lawsuit set dangerous precedent for Ethereum.

What Could This Mean For Crypto Market?

The large transactions suggest investors taking precautionary measures against any upcoming risk towards USDC or other similar digital assets given instability in current banking systems but could also mean whale’s next move towards taking advantage if there is another bull run coming up soon. With increased volatility across crypto markets right now – speculators are left wondering what will come next!

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• The Yuga Labs 12Fold Collection auction ended recently and was a huge success, netting $16.5 million in one day.
• It recorded 288 winning bids, with the highest bidder paying over $161,000 for one Bitcoin NFT.
• Yuga Labs promised to send out their Bitcoin NFTs to winners within 7 days.

Yuga Labs 12Fold Collection Auction a Huge Success

The recently concluded Yuga Labs 12Fold Collection auction was a huge success and netted $16.5 million in one day. The event kicked off on March 5 and based on the announcement, 288 bidders received 288 inscriptions from the 300 NFT-like images on Satoshi using Ordinals. Even though many people criticized the auction model, it still proved to be successful in the end.

Highest Bidder Pays Over $161K for One Bitcoin NFT

Yuga Labs announced their success through a Twitter post and congratulated all of the 288 winners while promising to send out their Bitcoin NFTs within 7 days. Additionally, all other bidders who lost were also assured that their BTCs would be returned back to their wallets within 24 hours. According to details provided on TwelveFold Collection site, Yuga Labs realized 735 BTC worth almost $16.5 million at market price with the highest bidder paying slightly more than 7BTC (amounting to about $161,000) for one Bitcoin NFT!

Excitement Among Winners

Winners of the auction were extremely excited to receive their NFTs and took to Twitter to announce it expressing excitement over having been successful in their bid! For example; one of such winners Carsonturner posted his excitement on Twitter as soon as he was declared winner of his bid!

Ordinals Protocol Adoption Likely To Increase

Thanks to this hugely successful first ever bitcoin NFT auction sale by Yuga Labs, adoption of Ordinals protocol is likely going to increase exponentially as they have successfully set a pace by leveraging number 1 crypto blockchain in this growing sector!

Criticisms About Auction Model

Though very successful in its own right; this auction did not sit well with many people due process involved which required sending BTCs directly into company wallet before any bids could be accepted or honored! Ethereum tumbled down significantly on charts after news went public about this controversial model followed by Yaga Lab’s . Casey Rodarmor , creator of Ordinals even had go so far as warning Yaga labs against following such process again or else he will wash his hands off project & influence others too do same !

• The crypto market has been shaken by major coins plummeting to weekly support ranges.
• However, some cryptos are glowing in green in almost all time frames and expected to make a surprise rally.
• Five cryptos that could potentially breakout in the short term are TRX, FET, and AGIX.

Crypto Market Shakes Up

The crypto market has recently been shaken up by major coins plummeting to weekly support ranges. This has caused sentiment to remain negative as digital currency assets have lost a good percentage of their values.

Unexpected Rally Expected

Despite the current situation, some cryptos are still glowing in green in almost all time frames according to Coingecko. As macroeconomic indicators show an improving situation in certain areas, these cryptos are expected to make a surprise rally in the final days of February.

Top 5 Cryptos for Potential Breakout

Don’t wait! Here is a list of five cryptos that could potentially breakout:

• TRX (Tron)
• FET (Artificial Intelligence)
• AGIX (SingularityNET Governance Token)

TRX – Tron

TRON is thriving with 143 million accounts backed by nearly 5 billion transactions. According to CoinGecko, strong growth can be seen in almost all time frames with the biggest gains made in the monthly time frame at almost 16%. This shows that bulls are dominating the market and investors and traders should take this opportunity by focusing on breaking resistance at $0.06871.

FET – Artificial Intelligence Token

AI related tokens such as FET have also been experiencing bullish sentiment with its market capitalization reaching nearly $2 billion today due to its recent partnership with Fetch.AI and Bosch causing 10% growths on its weekly time frame. The only thing stopping any further bullish movement is its current resistance at $0.4097 which investors and traders should focus on breaking for continued growth in price.

AGIX – SingularityNET Governance Token

SingularityNET’s governance token AGIX is also on an uptrend due to its journey creating an artificial general intelligence (AGI). Data shows that AGIX is showing gains across all time frames with its biggest increase being nearly 150% on the monthly chart making it one of the top cryptos for potential breakouts this month.

• Paul Pierce has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for promoting a crypto security, EthereumMax.
• He was paid a total sum of more than $244,000 in EMAX tokens to promote the token.
• As part of his settlement with the SEC, he will pay a penalty of $1.1 million and be barred from promoting any crypto assets for the next three years.

Paul Pierce Settles with SEC Over Charges

Crypto regulations continue to deepen as regulators take action against the crypto industry. NBA Hall of Fame player Paul Pierce recently settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over charges of unlawfully touting digital asset EthereumMax, which is considered by the regulator to be a “crypto security”.

The Offense

In 2021, Pierce promoted EthereumMax tokens without disclosing that he was doing so for profit. Reportedly, he was paid more than $244,000 in EMAX tokens for his services.

The Judgement

As part of his settlement with the SEC, he is required to pay a penalty of $1.1 million and abstain from promoting any crypto assets for three years. Additionally, it was found that on social media Pierce had misled investors regarding his holding position by posting screenshots indicating higher amounts than what he really owned before dumping all those tokens on the market.

Other Celebrities Involved

Pierce is not alone in this case; other celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr were also involved in promoting the EMAX project without disclosing their involvement or payment structure publicly.

The EthereumMax Lesson

The SEC Chairman Gary Gensler noted: “This case is yet another reminder to celebrities: The law requires you to disclose to the public from whom and how much you are getting paid to promote investment in securities, and you can’t lie to investors when you tout a security.”

• VAULT is a new platform on Solana that looks to be a major competitor for some of music’s biggest decentralized players.
• The platform is fresh off the heels of a $4M Series A fundraising round and was created by Nigel Eccles and Rob Jones, co-founders of FanDuel.
• VAULT takes an especially interesting mobile-friendly approach and is seemingly looking to build a ‘standard’ in the space with its ‘Digital Music Collectible’ (DMC) format.

VAULT: Major Competitor In Music’s Biggest Decentralized Space

VAULT is a new platform on Solana that looks to be a major competitor for some of music’s biggest decentralized players. The platform recently raised $4M in their Series A funding round, bringing their total raise to roughly $13M – all amidst bear market conditions.

The Power Behind VAULT

The project behind VAULT consists of two founders from FanDuel, Nigel Eccles and Rob Jones. They have experience navigating nascent industries with complicated regulatory landscapes, which could give them an edge over other platforms in the audio NFT space. Beyond the team, VAULT also has an interesting product offering – their ‘Digital Music Collectible’ (DMC) format essentially bundles up music packages to make them more appetizing than traditional album offerings or streaming services like Spotify.

Competition In Audio NFT Space

Though VAULT may not have first mover advantage, there are only few major competitors in the audio-based NFT space, like Audius (AUDIO). There hasn’t yet been one player that has established a dominant position – giving new entrants like VAULT a chance at making as splash.

Rihanna Joins The Scene

Just this week Rihanna released her own NFT, alongside Warner Music Group pairing with OpenSea – further evidence that traditional music entities are getting involved in the space as well.

Will VAULT Make An Impact?

It remains to be seen if VAUILT will be able to establish itself as an industry powerhouse when it comes to audio NFTs – but with their experience in navigating nascent markets and their unique mobile-friendly approach they certainly have potential for success.

• John E. Deaton scored a major victory for the crypto industry, the XRP community and Ripple.
• The SEC conceded that secondary sales of the LBC token are not securities.
• Following the news, the LBC price rose by up to 155%, indicating a potential Ripple win could double XRP’s price.

Yesterday, John E. Deaton scored a massive victory for the entire crypto industry, the XRP community and Ripple, in the remedies hearing in the litigation between LBRY and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As Bitcoinist reported, Deaton appeared as an amicus in the hearing and managed to elicit from the SEC, “live and on tape,” that it does not consider secondary sales of the LBC token as securities. In addition, the New Hampshire District Court judge confirmed that he would clarify in the final remedy that he does not rule on the secondary market.

This was great news for the LBC token, as the previous ruling would have jeopardized the token’s existence, independent of the LBRY company. Thus, it is no surprise that the price of LBC responded extremely bullish yesterday. After the news became public, the price rose by up to 155%. At press time, the LBC price stood at $0.024913, still recording a whopping spike of 120%.

This surge in the LBC token price may be a sign of what will happen to the XRP price if Ripple wins its case against the SEC. When the lawsuit was filed by the SEC in late December 2020, the XRP price plummeted a staggering -72% in one week, from $0.60 to $0.17. Thus, a Ripple win could potentially double the XRP price.

Nevertheless, the XRP community will have to wait as the case is still ongoing. It remains to be seen whether Ripple will be successful in its defense, and if the SEC will be forced to concede that XRP is not a security. Despite the uncertainty, the LBC token price surge may be a sign of what is yet to come.

• Microsoft confirmed its plan to invest millions of dollars in Open AI, the company behind popular programs such as ChatGPT, Dalle-E, and others.
• Crypto AI is a sector to watch during the year, with projects such as The Graph, Coinbase-backed project that operates as an indexing protocol, receiving attention from users.
• With Microsoft’s investment, other giants such as Google and Facebook may be attracted to the crypto AI sector, leading to potential gains for those projects in the future.

Microsoft, one of the leading tech giants of the world, recently announced an investment in Open AI, the company behind popular programs such as ChatGPT, Dalle-E, and others. This move signals the company’s commitment to the nascent sector of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is expected to shape the future of technology and the crypto industry for years to come.

The crypto industry is a major beneficiary of the emerging trend, with billions of dollars being poured into products and services that leverage blockchain, big data, and AI. A study from Trading Browser has revealed the projects that are attracting the most attention from users, with these projects likely to benefit the most in a future bull market. The Graph tops the list, with the Coinbase-backed project operating as an indexing protocol for “querying networks” such as Ethereum and the IPFS. The project has already seen over 8,100 global monthly searches on Google and is expected to experience additional growth as AI becomes a more significant factor in the industry.

Microsoft’s investment in Open AI is a major boost for the crypto AI sector, and has the potential to attract other tech giants such as Google and Facebook. With the influx of capital and the interest from these major corporations, the sector is expected to experience significant gains in the near future. Furthermore, with the rising Bitcoin price, the crypto AI sector is likely to benefit even more, with the projects that are currently receiving the most attention being the ones to gain the most.

In conclusion,Microsoft’s investment in Open AI is a major step forward for the Artificial Intelligence sector, with the potential to shape the future of the crypto industry. With the rising Bitcoin price and the capital from tech giants such as Google and Facebook, the projects that are currently receiving the most attention from users are the ones to benefit the most in the future.

• Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das wants an outright ban on cryptocurrencies due to their association with terror funding and lack of clear definition.
• He believes that these asset types cannot be considered as financial products and must be treated as “gambling activities.”
• The RBI has also launched its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) late last October.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is taking a strong stance against cryptocurrencies, with Governor Shaktikanta Das calling for an outright ban. In a speech at a conference on Friday, he made it clear that the RBI’s stance on digital currencies remains unchanged.

Das argued that cryptocurrencies are not to be considered as a financial product and should instead be treated as “gambling activities.” His remarks come in the wake of reports that the system implemented by the now-defunct exchange FTX has failed, and rumors about the RBI’s own central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The Governor stated that the definition of cryptocurrencies is unclear, and that the commonly known danger of terrorism funding which is associated with these asset types should be a major cause of concern. He commented that some may call it an asset while others may call it a financial product, but in the case of crypto, there is no underline.

The RBI has shown that it is not taking this issue lightly, with a recent statement saying that “Crypto is not a financial product then, therefore it’s masquerading as a financial product or asset is completely a misplaced argument.”

In an effort to tackle the issue of digital currencies, the RBI has taken a lead over other central banks by launching its own CBDC late last October. It is clear that the Indian government is cracking down on the use of cryptocurrencies, with Das’s comments further reinforcing this stance.

The Governor did not provide any details on how the ban would be enforced, but the RBI has made it clear that they are taking a strong stance against the use of digital currencies in India. With the introduction of their CBDC, the bank is hoping to provide a better alternative to digital currencies, one that is regulated and has a clear definition. It will be interesting to see how this situation develops in the coming months.

• 65,000 people in Oman possess bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency.
• 98% of Oman’s adult population had heard of cryptocurrencies, showing a growing awareness.
• Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency among Oman’s crypto owners, with Ethereum and XRP following close behind.

The Souq Analyst survey has yielded impressive results in regards to the growing cryptocurrency awareness in Oman. According to the survey, approximately 65,000 of the people in Oman possess bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency, comprising almost 2% of the country’s adult population.

The level of crypto-awareness in Oman is rising rapidly, as 98% of Oman’s adult population had heard of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency among Oman’s crypto owners, with over 55% of respondents indicating ownership. Ethereum ranks second, followed by XRP, Tether, and other alternative cryptocurrencies.

When it comes to demographics, the survey revealed that a remarkable one-fourth of the respondents had completed high school. Moreover, 90% of cryptocurrency owners in the country are between the ages of 18 and 44.

The survey also indicated that many of the bitcoin owners consider their holdings as a secure alternative to traditional money. Over 12% of respondents said they own crypto assets worth more than 10,000 USD.

Souq Analyst provides its community with important stock market news and analysis, investment ideas, charts, and portfolio analysis. The community also provides country-specific perspectives on banking, cryptocurrencies, crowd funding, and investing.

The survey results clearly indicate that Oman is fast becoming an important hub for cryptocurrency investors and enthusiasts. As awareness of cryptocurrencies continues to grow, so too will the number of people investing in them.