Ethereum price has fallen 7.5% in the past 24 hours as proceeds from last week’s FTX “hack” began pouring into the market. At the time of writing this article, the address associated with this breach continues to hold over 200,000 ETH (worth over $223 million), suggesting that the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency may continue to come under heavy downward pressure in the coming weeks.
The identity of the owner of the address is currently the subject of dispute, with Reuters reporting over the weekend that the Bahamas Securities Commission had seized assets belonging to the FTX unit in the Bahamas. However, the blockchain forensics company Chainalysis reported that some funds were indeed stolen from FTX.
Ethereum Price Prediction as FTX Hacker Begins Dumping $200M of ETH
The Ethereum price chart is currently grim, with its relative strength index (purple) dipping from 40 to near 30 in the past few hours. It is likely to continue to fall in the next few days and not return to the surface until near 20.
At the same time, ETH’s 30-day moving average (red) sinks further below its 200-day average (blue). Again, this likely won’t stop until the drop is much bigger, especially since there’s around 200,000 ETH waiting to be sold.
Speaking of this crypto theft, Rumors abound as to who is responsible. While many discuss the FTX “hack” as if it were a trivial security flaw, others suggest it is the result of some kind of inside work. This possibility is reinforced by information that CEO Sam Bankman-Fried had a ‘back door’ to access customer fundswhich allowed it to move deposited cryptocurrencies without alerting automatic reporting mechanisms.
And while the Bahamian Securities Regulator has confirmed receipt of FTX funds, others have stepped in to state or clarify that the funds the regulator has received are separate from the 200,000 ETH that currently sits in a wallet and is being gradually sold off.
Indeed, the fact that some FTX funds were stolen was demonstrated by the fact that the owner of the ETH wallet started selling. At the time of writing, it has liquidated around 50,000 ETH, a liquidation that has sent the price of Ethereum down from around $1,221 yesterday to $1,120 now.
For the most part, the seller dumped ETH via the bridge renBTC, which converts ETH to BTC and vice versa. Unfortunately for the hacker, renBTC has limited liquidity, so their ability to sell 200,000 ETH through the bridge may be severely limited.
The hacker also used other bridges and stablecoins, all of this in order to mix up his coins and hide in a heap of transactions. Other tokens sold (in addition to ETH) include DAI and BNB, with on-chain forensics expert ZachXBT also noting that the hacker used a variety of exchanges, including very small local exchanges such as Laslobit, based in Russia.
Their ability to sell all “their” ETH, however, will be further limited by the fact that FTX itself (now under administration) urges exchanges to cooperate to stop the movement of funds. In addition, the Ren protocol also announced a freeze on new coins renBTCwhich means that the attacker may have to take the risk of selling ETH more directly.
There is therefore no guarantee that the owner of the address in question will manage to sell the 200,000 ETH. By extension, damage to Ethereum price can be limitedwith the crypto unable to fall (substantially) below $1,000.
Safer altcoins
It not remain that ETH could drop to levels it hasn’t seen since late 2020, which would make it a bad idea to buy the cryptocurrency until this whole FTX hack saga is over. Therefore, traders looking for shorter-term gains may prefer to look elsewhere, with pre-sale coins being one of the most promising sources of yield this year.
In fact, the year 2022 has seen some cryptocurrencies rise as much as 1,800% when listed on stock exchanges after a pre-sale, highlighting the potential for new projects with strong fundamentals.
Accordingly, here are three of the most promising new cryptocurrencies currently holding their pre-sales. Even if they do not achieve the performances mentioned above, they each have strong enough fundamentals to increase their chances of recording decent returns.
Dash 2 Trade (D2T)
Running on Ethereum, Dash 2 Trade is a smart trading platform where investors can access real-time analytics and social trading dataall aimed at helping them make more informed trading decisions.
Scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2023, the sale of its native token D2T has already enabled raise over $6.5 million. It also announced quotes on BitMart and LBANK Exchange for the start of next year, which confirms that investors will indeed have the opportunity to take advantage of some returns quite quickly.
Discover Dash 2 Trade now
Calvaria (RIA)
Calvaria (RIA) is a new game that revolves around collecting and trading NFT-based cards, which can also be used to battle other players for rewards. What sets it apart from other blockchain-based games is that users will be able to play it without having to hold any cryptowhich could make it more accessible to more casual gamers.
Within its ecosystem, the RIA will be used for purchasing in-game items and for staking, giving it a strong use case within its ecosystem. The token’s pre-sale raised just over $1.8 million and is currently in its fourth phase, during which 40 RIA can be obtained for 1 USDT.
Discover Calvaria now
RobotEra (TARO)
Another Ethereum-based platform, RobotEra (TARO), is a sandbox-like Metaverse where players can play as robots and help create its virtual world. Its alpha version will go live in the first quarter of 2023, and its ecosystem will allow users to create their own terrains, buildings and other game elements based on NFT technology.
1 TARO is currently selling for 0.020 USDT (it can be bought using USDT or ETH), but this price will drop to $0.025 during the second phase of its presale, which will start soon.
Participate in the RobotEra project now