Bitcoin exceeded $45,000
On January 2, Bitcoin reached $45,800, accompanied by a significant increase in trading volumes. Similar price dynamics were last seen in early April 2022, before the collapse of Terra occurred, which entailed negative consequences for the entire crypto industry.
It is interesting to note that among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, only Solana and Avalanche surpassed Bitcoin in terms of growth on January 2. At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin is around $43,600.
USDC temporarily fell to $0.76
USDC, issued by Circle and usually closely linked to the dollar, experienced unexpected volatility on the Binance exchange, briefly falling to $0.76. This happened against the backdrop of heightened skepticism regarding Bitcoin ETFs and a large-scale liquidation of derivatives.
It's worth noting that USDC's volatility was unusual given its usual stability as a stablecoin, fully backed by fiat currency and exchangeable at a 1:1 ratio with the US dollar. Such fluctuations can have an impact on the cryptocurrency market, impacting confidence in the asset category and perceived stability, although they appear to have left only a small mark this time around.
Bitcoin mining difficulty reaches new record level
As a result of the next recalculation of the difficulty of mining the first cryptocurrency, we observe an increase of 1.6%, which led to the achievement of the maximum value of this indicator - 73.2 T. Over the past period with changes in difficulty, the average hashrate was 524.18 EH/s, and the interval between blocks of less than 10 minutes left.
According to Glassnode data, on January 5, the smoothed 7-day moving average hashrate reached 537 EH/s. At the time of writing this text, this figure has risen to 545 EH/s. Let's not forget to note that over the past year, Bitcoin miners' income from commissions has grown by an impressive 400%, and the average daily income has exceeded $2 million.
Etherscan bought Solscan
Etherscan announced the acquisition of Solscan, which was a significant event in the world of blockchain. Launched in 2015, Etherscan has established itself as a reputable platform in the cryptocurrency world, providing extensive data, API access, insights and comprehensive analysis to the Ethereum community.
The Etherscan team emphasized that the acquisition of Solscan is in line with their mission of providing reliable services to users. They praised Solscan's expertise in providing detailed information and analytics to its audience.
Founded in 2021, Solscan has attracted over three million monthly users, indicating its remarkable success. The Solscan platform provides many features familiar to Etherscan users, including detailed address information, token and transaction data, as well as API access, dashboards and NFT metadata.
Nest Wallet co-founder suffered from fake airdrop
Bill Lu, CEO and co-founder of Nest Wallet, was the victim of a sophisticated phishing scam. The incident involves a massive LFG token airdrop scam that appears to have been designed to defraud Ethereum users by offering dubious prospects in exchange for high transaction fees. As a result of the scam, Bill Lu lost 52 stETH, which is equivalent to $125,000.
The incident raises serious questions about security in the world of cryptocurrencies and highlights the risks associated with clever phishing attacks. It also emphasizes the importance of vigilance and awareness for users of digital assets.
Unfortunately, the case of Bill Lu is far from the only one in the world of cryptocurrencies. Numerous other victims have shared similar stories, describing serious losses suffered after carelessly clicking on fraudulent links distributed through fake social media accounts. These fraudulent accounts appear credible, cleverly tricking users into losing digital assets.
Happy Genesis Block Day
Exactly 15 years ago, on January 3, 2009, a mysterious person or group of people hiding under the name Satoshi Nakamoto launched the first cryptocurrency on the main network, and mined the first genesis block containing 50 BTC. A special feature of this block was the title of the article “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks” from the British newspaper The Times, which added mystery to the creation of Bitcoin. 15 years have passed since then, and Bitcoin has made an incredible journey from an unknown asset to a globally significant investment instrument with a huge market capitalization.
An unknown person sent 26.9 BTC to Satoshi Nakamoto's address
An unknown user purchased 26.9 BTC on Binance and sent it to an address associated with the mysterious figure Satoshi Nakamoto. This event caused a strong reaction in the crypto community, sparking heated discussions and theories. Users assume that Satoshi Nakamoto himself returned, purchased 27 BTC and sent them to his wallet. The second option involves the possibility that someone just destroyed a million dollars worth of cryptocurrency. It is also possible that this is someone’s PR stunt, the details of which will become known later.
