Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have taken a downturn this weekamid news that Kraken has come to terms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and will no longer offer its staking product as a service to businesses without regulatory approval.
SEC Judgment on Kraken: A Warning for Exchanges or an Opportunity for Decentralized Alternatives?
The routcome of the Kraken case settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has significant implications for the cryptocurrency industry. The SEC revealed on Thursday that Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange, will pay a $30 million fine for not registering the supply and sale of its cryptocurrency staking program as a service.
Prior to this announcement, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong warned on Twitter that he had received reports that “the SEC intends to eliminate crypto staking for retail customers in the United States.”
At first glance, the news of Kraken’s settlement with the SEC seemed like a negative development for all crypto staking services. However, theMarket reaction suggests that only centralized exchanges as staking intermediaries, such as Kraken and Coinbase, have cause for concern. Governance tokens for Lido and Rocket Pool, two of the biggest pooling services, jumped 11% in the last day.
Staked assets play a vital role in proof-of-stake networks, such as Ethereum, by ensuring network stability. Retail investors who cannot become standalone Ethereum validators due to high entry barriers then turn to staking-as-a-service providers.
So-called liquid staking, which allows for tokenized and tradable staked assets, has grown to $12 billion, or 26%, of the $47 billion DeFi ecosystem. Lido, the largest protocol supporting ETH staking, accounts for $8 billion, or 75% of deposited funds.
There SEC complaint against Kraken To highlighted the oversimplification of staking to attract retail customers. Kraken fixed returns for its customers, when the variable rate of rewards should have been determined by protocol.
Robinhood’s Crypto Revenue Drops 25% in Q4
THE revenue from Robinhood’s bitcoin business fell 25% from the prior quarter (T4 versus T3). Founded in 2013, the company is best known for its stock trading program, which it expanded to cryptocurrencies in 2018. For this reason, it quickly rose to prominence as a premier venue for trading. exchange of digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Revenues are falling for a number of reasons, one of which is the general slowdown in the bitcoin industry. There high volatility in cryptocurrency prices in 2022 resulted in fewer transactions and lower profits for exchanges like Robinhood. In his presentation, however, the company claimed to have earned nearly $82 million (EBITDA).
The fourth quarter was not a success as a loss of $166 million was reported. As a result, Robinhood’s stock price shows a decrease in earnings per share of $0.20.
Robinhood CEO Vladi Tenev believes in the future of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and will continue to offer his customers access to these “fast-moving assets”.
The price of bitcoin
The current Bitcoin price is $21,700 and the 24-hour trading volume is $24 billion. THE bitcoin fell less than 1% in the past 24 hours and has a live market capitalization of $418 billion.
Bitcoin broke through a major support zone at $21,875 this Saturday morning, and the close of candles below that level increases the likelihood of a selling trend. A break up of the $21,875 level, on the other hand, could send BTC price to the next resistance level of $22,300 or $22,850.
Failure to break below the $21,750 level, on the other hand, may extend the downtrend to the $21,200 level. Lower down, immediate support for BTC is $21,200, and a break below this level could push BTC price down again to $20,600.
The price of Ethereum
The current price of Ethereum is $1,520 with a 24-hour trading volume of $7.5 billion. ETH is down almost 2% in the last 24 hours and ranks number two on CoinMarketCap, with a market capitalization of $185 billion.
On a technical level, Ethereum is trading just above a double-bottom support level of $1,500. The candles closed above $1,500 have the potential to drive a rebound uptrend to the $1,560 level.
This resistance level is driven by an uptrend channel that was previously breached on Friday. A break above $1,560 may cause Ethereum climbs to the level of $1,600 or $1,680.
Converselyfailure to breach the $1,560 level may keep the price of ETH down and increase selling pressure, triggering a bearish break below the $1,510 leveldriving prices towards a lower level of $1,435.
Alternatives to Bitcoin and Ethereum to follow
Cryptonews Reviewed top 10 cryptocurrencies for 2023. If you are looking for a higher potential investment opportunity, there are many other projects worth considering.
Disclaimer: This linked article presents the views of crypto industry players and is not part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com.
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