Decentral Block Post

Bitcoin (BTC) investment vehicle, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), is trading close to 50% below the BTC price on spot markets.

Data from on-chain analytics platform Coinglass confirms that on Dec. 8, GBTC shares hit a new record low of -47.2% against BTC/USD.

GBTC troubles pile up post-FTX

In the latest bout of nerves to hit the Bitcoin industry since the fall of FTX, GBTC is nearing half-price versus the price of Bitcoin.

The largest institutional Bitcoin investment vehicle, with assets worth around $10 billion, GBTC has faced numerous challenges in recent years.

The price of its shares previously traded higher than BTC/USD, resulting in what was called the “GBTC premium.” Since 2021, however, that premium has turned negative, but the resulting “discount” has done little to lure additional institutional interest.

United States federal prosecutors have reportedly begun investigating whether the collapse of the Terra ecosystem was in fact triggered by market manipulation tactics by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

According to a Dec. 7 report from The New York Times (NYT), the prosecutors — as part of a broader inquiry into FTX’s own collapse — are investigating whether Bankman-Fried’s empire intentionally caused a flood of “sell” orders on Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin TerraClassicUSD, USTC (formerly UST).

The sudden increase in UST sell orders were said to make it difficult to match them with corresponding “buy” orders, which in turn forced more downward price pressure on UST, causing it to depeg from its intended 1:1 ratio with the U.S. Dollar.

The events also led to the fall of Terra’s native token, Terra Classic, LUNC (formerly LUNA) as the two cryptocurrencies were designed to be linked.

But while no one has been able to precisely determine the root cause behind the collapse of LUNC and USTC in May, it is known that the majority of the USTC sell orders came from Bankman-Fried’s trading firm Alameda research, according to the NYT.

Spain’s central bank, the Bank of Spain (BDE) said it intends to launch an experimental program to begin testing wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CDBCs) and is seeking collaboration proposals from local finance and technology institutions.

The bank will focus on three main areas with the program that seeks to simulate the movement of funds, experiment with the liquidation of financial assets, and analyze the benefits and drawbacks of introducing a wholesale CBDC to its current processes and infrastructure according to a translated Dec. 5 statement.

A wholesale CBDC refers to a digital currency typically for use by banks to keep reserves with a central bank, as compared to a retail or general-purpose CBDC that’s open to use by the public.

The program is “exclusive” to the BDE and it stated it was unrelated to work being undertaken in the European Union researching the use of a digital euro.

Interested parties wishing to participate in the program must meet the minimum requirements set by the bank and disclose the “economic means” they’re willing to commit to the project in an application process which closes on Jan. 31, 2023.

A federal judge in California has dismissed a class action lawsuit against reality TV star Kim Kardashian, boxing champ Floyd Mayweather and the founders of EthereumMax, explaining that the submissions failed to meet the “heightened pleading standards” for fraud claims.

The judge has, however, left room for the plaintiffs to refile the proposed class action lawsuit if certain provisions are amended.

In the original Jan. 7 court filing submitted by Scott+Scott Attorneys At Law, the plaintiffs argued that Kardashian, Mayweather, and also former NBA superstar Paul Pierce didn’t disclose they were being paid to promote EthereumMax (EMAX).

The plaintiffs alleged that they promoted it with the objective to “artificially inflate the price of the token” through the use of “false or misleading statements.”

Kim Kardashian promoted EMAX in a Jun. 2021 post on Instagram, while Floyd Mayweather wore the EMAX logo on his boxing trunks in a boxing match against YouTube star Logan Paul in the same month.

Chainlink has a busy start to December when it comes to development launches. The Chainlink (LINK) staking program opened up for early access on Dec. 6 and will expand access on Dec. 8. 

According to Chainlink, staking will further secure the project’s node ecosystem and alerting mechanism:

“Stakers gain access to staking rewards for securing the network through timely and valid alerts, and in the future, for slashing and loss protection.”

Historically, mainnet launches and staking incentives stir up a flurry of blockchain activity and data from on-chain analytics firm Arkham shows a sharp uptick in activity.

While node providers received access on Oct. 3 with uncapped terms, Chainlink’s early access staking capped the total per person staking at 7,000 LINK. Despite this cap, the staking program has garnered traction, far surpassing 11 million staked LINK on Dec. 6.

Chainlink has a busy start to December when it comes to development launches. The Chainlink (LINK) staking program opened up for early access on Dec. 6 and will expand access on Dec. 8. 

According to Chainlink, staking will further secure the project’s node ecosystem and alerting mechanism:

“Stakers gain access to staking rewards for securing the network through timely and valid alerts, and in the future, for slashing and loss protection.”

Historically, mainnet launches and staking incentives stir up a flurry of blockchain activity and data from on-chain analytics firm Arkham shows a sharp uptick in activity.

While node providers received access on Oct. 3 with uncapped terms, Chainlink’s early access staking capped the total per person staking at 7,000 LINK. Despite this cap, the staking program has garnered traction, far surpassing 11 million staked LINK on Dec. 6.

The FTX crisis kept Bitcoin’s (BTC) price under pressure in November, but data from Bitstamp exchange shows institutional investors may have viewed the dip as a buying opportunity. The exchange told Cointelegraph that compared to October, its revenue from institutions increased by 34% in November.

In another positive sign, Goldman Sachs executive Mathew McDermott told Reuters that the bank was doing some due diligence on crypto companies since they were “priced more sensibly” after the FTX crash.

ARK Invest said in the latest edition of its monthly “The Bitcoin Monthly" newsletter, that the FTX implosion “could be the most damaging event in crypto history,” but added that decentralized blockchains were “as strong as ever.”

Could lower levels attract buyers in Bitcoin and altcoins? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to spot the levels where buyers may step in.

BTC/USDT

After trading near the 20-day exponential moving average ($16,966) for the past few days, Bitcoin is threatening to dip below the immediate support at $16,787.