Bitcoin volatility has dropped to its lowest level
The volatility of the first cryptocurrency over the past 12 years has reached its lowest value over this entire period. This indicator underwent noticeable changes from year to year, but overall showed a clear downward trend. From the beginning of 2012, when it was 179%, it has dropped to 45% at the beginning of this year.
High volatility indicates large price fluctuations and indicates instability in the market, making it less predictable. On the other hand, low values of this indicator suggest more stable conditions for trading and investing.
Record number of new addresses in the Solana network
In January, an unprecedented number of new addresses were recorded on the Solana platform - as many as 11.81 million. Since the beginning of this year, the Solana blockchain has successfully completed transactions totaling an impressive $951.9 billion. This impressive increase in activity on the Solana blockchain led to the price of the SOL cryptocurrency reaching $104. It follows a backdrop of lively and dynamic trading activity, especially in pairs with the WEN meme token and various “stable coins”, adding additional dynamics and interest to the whole process.
Ethereum ICO participant woke up after 8.5 years
The owner of the address that participated in the Ethereum ICO and which currently holds 492 ETH (valued at $1.14 million at the time of writing) decided to revive this wallet after being dormant for 8.5 years. These coins have been at this address since the very beginning of the history of the Ethereum cryptocurrency, starting on July 30, 2015, when the main network of this blockchain platform was launched.
And so, on February 2, 2024, new transactions finally appeared at this address. First, apparently a test transaction in the amount of 0.5 ETH was noticed, followed by a transfer to the same wallet in the amount of 98 ETH. It is interesting to note that the recipient address of 98 ETH was generated by the Kraken Bitcoin exchange in January 2022, which adds to the mystery of this story. The message from Whale Alert about the first movement of long-forgotten coins, of course, was not without jokes that the owner had finally remembered his seed phrase and decided to return to his cryptocurrency treasures.
Tether earned a record $2.9 billion in Q4
Tether, which issues the USDT stablecoin, is noteworthy for its record net profit of $2.9 billion between October and December. This achievement is confirmed by the certification report. Of this amount, $1 billion is due to interest on US Treasuries, and the remaining amount is associated with a positive revaluation of reserves in gold and Bitcoin.
Net income for the full year 2023 was $6.2 billion. The company's reserves increased significantly in the most recent reporting period, rising $2.2 billion from $3.2 billion to a record $5.4 billion. Of the $2.9 billion received by Tether, $0.7 billion was allocated to finance various investment projects, including the production of the first cryptocurrency, the development of AI infrastructure and support for P2P communications. BDO's auditor also identified $4.8 billion of outstanding unsecured loans, which may be of interest for further analysis and discussion.
Bitcoin President of El Salvador prepares for re-election
El Salvador asserted its allegiance to the first cryptocurrency, recognizing it as legal tender during Nayib Bukele's second term. Felix Ulloa, the country's deputy head of state, emphasized this fact in a conversation with Reuters, emphasizing that such a decision was made even despite demands from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a “review” of monetary policy.
Despite the IMF's concerns and the refusal to issue a loan, El Salvador's plans to issue Bitcoin bonds worth $1 billion and build Bitcoin City have not lost their relevance. If he wins the presidential election, as most polls confirm, Nayib Bukele and his New Ideas party plan to continue implementing these ambitious projects.
BNB Chain Plans for 2024
In 2024, BNB Chain developers will focus on improving data processing and storage by introducing an innovative PBSS model. In addition, they plan to implement EVM 3.0 among node operators and validators. Last year, BNB Chain made waves by becoming one of the most actively used L1 blockchains, reaching an all-time high of 32 million transactions per day and delivering 2,000 TPS.
OpBNB emerged as a tier 2 topper, setting a record of 71 million transactions per day, providing 4,500 TPS, and setting a minimum gas fee of only ~$0.001. According to the team's plans, this year opBNB will be renamed opBNB Connect, and its goal will be to support large decentralized applications that require high performance. In addition, BNB Chain plans to increase the number of active validators from 40 to 100 and implement Beacon Chain fusion to optimize decisions at different levels and speed up the decentralization process.
Vitalik Buterin "The End of My Childhood"
On the last day of January, on his 30th birthday, Vitalik Buterin decided to share the story of his fascinating journey in the world of blockchain development through an essay he called “The End of My Childhood.” He not only recalled his memories, but also shared his thoughts on the future of digital assets.
His memories included stories about his trip to a "hacker house" in South Korea and other exciting travels. He also talked about his incredible journey to creating Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by capitalization.
It all started back in 2013 when he decided to take a paid internship at Ripple while still in college. However, visa mishaps changed his plans and he spent the summer working on Bitcoin Magazine in Spain. Over time, Vitalik realized that his true calling was in the study of cryptocurrencies, and took a 12-month sabbatical to fully immerse himself in this fascinating world.
