Read in the Digest
- Biggest Liquidation Sends BTC Tumbling, but Options Expiration Could Spark New Rally
- Ethereum 2.0 Altair Upgrade Goes Live, ETH Rallies Above $4,100K
- Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Becomes Most Popular iPhone App, Shiba Rally Causes Crash
- DeFi Protocol Cream Finance Suffers $130 Million Hack
Biggest Liquidation Sends BTC Tumbling, but Options Expiration Could Spark New Rally
After hitting a new all-time high on the back of the much-anticipated ETF launch, traders have liquidated the most positions in a month. According to data from Bybt, on October 27, the total liquidations of long crypto positions topped $700 million, the most since September 20.
The liquidation saw Bitcoin fall as much as 6.4%, causing BTC to drop to $58,132. The drop saw Bitcoin fall below its 20-day moving average, hinting at the possibility of more sales. However, BTC has gained 4.5% in the last 24 hours, and was trading at $61,095 at the time of this writing.
The 24-hour price chart of Bitcoin (BTC). Source: Tradingview
As Bitcoin recuperates, investors and traders could be in for more gain ahead of Friday’s $3.2 billion options expiry. The October 29 option is made up of $1.94 billion call (buy) and $1.24 billion put (sell) options.
If Bitcoin sustains its current bullish momentum above $60k until the options expire on October 29, bullish investors and traders could get a profit of $385 million or higher.
Flipsider:
- The regulatory uncertainty in the United States is also a decisive factor in keeping some large institutional investors from entering the sector.
Why You Should Care
With the recent performance of Bitcoin, analysts still maintain a bullish stance for Bitcoin, predicting that BTC will hit $100,000 before the end of the year.
Ethereum 2.0 Altair Upgrade Goes Live, ETH Rallies Above $4,100K
Ethereum, one of the biggest blockchain networks, has taken another step towards the much-anticipated Ethereum 2.0. Journeying towards proof-of-stake, the Ethereum network has completed its Altair upgrade to Beacon Chain.
On October 27, Raul Jordan, a core developer on the Ethereum network, announced that the Altair upgrade on the Beacon Chain had been successfully deployed. The Ethereum Foundation refers to Altair as a “warm-up upgrade” for the chain and clients.
Altair introduces light client support, minor patches to incentives, and per-validator inactivity leak accounting to the Ethereum network. Altair will be the last major change to the Ethereum blockchain until “the merge” (docking of ETH 1.0 with ETH 2.0) happens in Q1 or Q2 of 2022.
Flipsider:
- The news of the upgrade did not achieve the expected reaction, as ETH fell below $4k on October 27.
The five-day price chart of Ethereum (ETH). Source: Tradingview
- Entering October 28, ETH has gained 4.8%, pushing its prices up to $4,142 at the time of this writing.
Why You Should Care
Ethereum is gradually pushing towards 2.0, which is expected to enhance the speed, efficiency, and scalability of the Ethereum network.
Coinbase Becomes Most Popular iPhone App, Shiba Rally Causes Crash
The crypto industry continues to prove its worth as the future of finance. The biggest crypto exchange in the U.S., Сoinbase, has overtaken TikTok as the most popular iPhone app.
Coinbase now sits at the top of the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store in the U.S. above TikTok, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and other popular apps. Doge-killer Shiba Inu played a part in Coinbase’s climb to the top.
Amid the growing popularity of Coinbase, its network was forced offline as demand for the memecoin, Shiba Inu, goes through the roof. The spiking demand helped SHIB buck the trend by surging to a new all-time high on October 27.
The surging demand for SHIB sent Coinbase offline for about 20 minutes on October 27. The trading volume of SHIB on Coinbase has exceeded $5 billion, dwarfing the two biggest cryptos, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Flipsider:
- While Coinbase is now the most popular iPhone app, Binance still leads the pack among exchanges, completing more transactions than Coinbase.
Why You Should Care
Coinbase’s push to the top of the Apple App Store highlights the growing global interest in cryptocurrencies.
DeFi Protocol Cream Finance Suffers Another Hack
DeFi protocols have been the most exploited crypto projects in 2021, suffering hacks of over $600 million (excluding return funds from the Poly Network hack). DeFi protocol Cream Finance has suffered a $130 million hack, its third network breach in 2021.
Using a vulnerability in the large flash loan of Cream Finance, the hacker(s) moved $92 million into one address and $23 million into another, alongside other funds taken. The funds are now being moved around to different wallets.
Following the hack, the token of Cream Finance (CREAM) plummeted by 26% on October 27 to its lowest since late May. CREAM now trades at $110.7, down from a high of $157.7 from the previous day.
The 48-hour price chart of CREAM, showing the price drop. Source: Tradingview
Flipsider:
- With help from Earn Finance, Cream Finance has identified and patched the vulnerability on the network.
Why You Should Care
The recent Cream Finance hack is the third-largest DeFi hack in history. For DeFi to flourish, DeFi protocols need to improve on the security of their network
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