Decentral Block Post

Iota, an open-source distributed ledger focused on the Internet of Things (IoT), saw its native IOTA token rally 43% on Nov. 29 after announcing the creation of the Iota Ecosystem DLT Foundation and its registration in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. This makes Iota the first distributed ledger technology foundation to be regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market.

According to a press release from the project, the foundation will be seeded with $100 million in IOTA tokens, which will be vested over a four-year period. Traders clearly perceived the announcement and funding plan as a short-term bullish catalyst.

Historically, ecosystem and developer incentives by blockchain and DeFi protocols tend to attract liquidity to the project and boost market participants’ sentiment.

In August 2021, Avalanche’s AVAX (AVAX) token went on a 1,400% tear after the announcement of the Avalanche Rush decentralized finance (DeFi) incentive program.

A similar outcome was seen with Trader Joe’s JOE token in the months following December 2022 after the DeFi protocol announced plans to establish a presence on Arbitrum.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has been given the green light to sell around $873 million of trust assets, with proceeds used to repay creditors impacted by the exchange’s collapse in 2022, according to a Nov. 29 filing in a Delaware bankruptcy court.

The $873 million in assets will be sourced from FTX’s stakes in various trusts issued by crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments, valued at $807 million, and custody service provider Bitwise, valued at $66 million.

While the court document references a total of $744 million in assets, this is due to the valuation figure being as of Oct. 25, 2023. The assets have increased in value since. 

The approval comes nearly four weeks after FTX debtors filed a motion to Judge John Dorsey on Nov. 3 requesting the sale of the six cryptocurrency trusts, including the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund.

FTX currently owns over 22 million units of GBTC, Grayscale’s flagship Bitcoin product, now worth $691 million, while its 6.3 million shares of ETHE are now worth around $106 million.

More than three-quarters of all blockchain games launched in the last five years are dead in the water, according to a recent study from CoinGecko.

Out of 2,817 games launched between 2018 and 2023, which were included in the study, only 690 of them still have a somewhat active player base.

CoinGecko defines a “failed” Web3 game as one where the 14-day moving average number of active users drops 99% or more from its peak.

While 2021 saw the highest number of blockchain games launched in a single year with 738 games, the following year — marred by major crypto collapses, saw the highest number of games to fizzle out, with 742 failing in a single year.

This puts the average failure rate of Web3 games at around 80% for any given year since 2018, according to CoinGecko.

Bitcoin (BTC) is trying to sustain above the overhead resistance of $38,000 for the second consecutive day and start the next leg of the uptrend. The excitement among market observers may have increased after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed its decision on the applications of Franklin Templeton and Hashdex exchange-traded funds.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart speculated in a X (formerly Twitter) post that the SEC may have taken this step “to line every applicant up for potential approval by the Jan. 10, 2024 deadline.”

While many analysts believe that the ETF listing will be a watershed moment for Bitcoin, Genesis Trading head of derivatives Joshua Lim cautioned in a X post that traditional finance investors have already bought the rumor and may exit the trade close to the ETF announcement when retail tries to get in.

However, the macroeconomic conditions in early 2024 may limit the downside. Pershing Square Capital Management CEO and founder Bill Ackman said in an interview with Bloomberg that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut rates sooner than people expect. He anticipates rate cuts to start in Q1 instead of the market expectations of the middle of the year.

Could Bitcoin and altcoins witness a shallow correction before resuming their uptrend?

The exploiter behind the $46 million crypto theft against KyberSwap has demanded its execs and tokenholders ease up on the hostilities, threatening to push out negotiations until everyone is “more civil.”

In an on-chain message addressed to KyberSwap executives, tokenholders and liquidity providers on Nov. 28, the exploiter said they plan to release a statement around a potential treaty with KyberSwap on Nov. 30 — but won’t do it if hostilities continue.

“I said I was willing to negotiate. In return, I have received (mostly) threats, deadlines, and general unfriendliness from the executive team,” they said.

“Under the assumption that I am treated with further hostility, we can reschedule for a later date, when we all feel more civil,” they warned.

The team behind KyberSwap — a cross-chain decentralized exchange — initially suggested a bounty deal where the hacker returns 90% of the funds across all exploits, allowing the hacker to keep the remaining 10%.

Circle, the stablecoin issuer behind USD Coin (USDC), is teaming up with Tokyo-based financial services firm SBI Holdings to boost the adoption of USDC and Web3 services in Japan.

Circle said it concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SBI Holdings on Nov. 27, which will underpin the strategic expansion of USDC into Japan.

It comes as the Japanese government revised the Payment Services Act in June to establish regulations for stablecoins, which Circle believes will “stimulate the issuance and circulation of stablecoins in Japan and advance Japan’s transition towards a Web3 economy.”

To initiate the circulation of USDC into Japan, SBI Holdings is seeking registration as an electronic payment instruments service, which is subject to approval by Japanese authorities.

SBI Holdings CEO and President Yoshitaka Kitao hopes it will be a step toward mass stablecoin adoption in the country.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $38,000 on Nov. 24, but the bulls could not build upon this strength. This suggests hesitation to buy at higher levels. Bitcoin is on track to form a Doji candlestick pattern on the weekly chart for the second consecutive week. This signals indecision among the bulls and the bears about the next directional move.

With Bitcoin maintaining near its 18-month high, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes retained his bullish stance. In a X (formerly Twitter) post, Hayes said that the United States dollar liquidity was increasing, which is likely to push Bitcoin higher.

Another bullish projection came from PlanB, creator of the stock-to-flow family of BTC price models, who said in a post on X that Bitcoin may not stay at the current levels for long. PlanB expects Bitcoin to maintain an average price of at least $100,000 between 2024 and 2028.

Analysts have turned increasingly bullish in the past few days, but traders should exercise caution because every uptrend is bound to have corrections.

Could Bitcoin soar above $38,000 or start a corrective phase? Let’s look at the charts of the top 5 cryptocurrencies that may outperform in the near term.

XRP (XRP) price may rally over 20% in the coming weeks thanks to a classic bullish continuation setup.

XRP price enters bull flag breakout stage

The so-called bull flag pattern develops when the price consolidates inside a parallel channel after a strong uptrend. It resolves after the price breaks above the upper trendline with convincing volumes and rises by as much as the previous uptrend's height.

As of Nov. 26, XRP was trading above its bull flag's upper trendline, albeit accompanying weaker volumes. That technically indicates a weaker conviction among traders about XRP's bullish continuation. 

The duration of traders' indecisiveness could have XRP price test the flag's upper trendline as support. That means a decline toward $0.59, coinciding with a historical support level and the 50-day exponential moving average (50-day EMA; the red wave), by November.

This level is also around XRP's downside target on the weekly timeframe chart.  

Bitcoin (BTC) broke above the overhead resistance of $38,000 on Nov. 24, indicating that the sentiment is positive and bulls have kept up the pressure. Independent Reserve CEO Adrian Przelozny told Cointelegraph that the “next two years are going to be good,” and market activity is likely to pick up in early 2024.

The major catalysts for next year is the Bitcoin halving in April and applications for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, some of which have a deadline for a decision in January. With two main events on the horizon, Bitcoin is likely to find buyers on dips.

Analysts expect a retracement from $40,000 in the near term. That could be one of the reasons why Cathie Wood’s investment firm, ARK Invest, has been gradually selling into strength. The firm sold about 700,000 shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) over the past month, but it is worth noting that ARK still holds more than 4.3 million GBTC shares.

Could crypto traders bulldoze their way through the overhead resistance levels in Bitcoin and major altcoins? What are the important levels to watch out for?

Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Ether (ETH) price is trading slightly higher on Nov. 23, maintaining support above the $2,000 level after briefly retesting $1,930 on Nov. 21. Over the past week, Ether's price has increased by 2.5%, while the total market capitalization has grown by 0.5%. This uptrend can be attributed to improved decentralized applications (DApps) metrics, increased protocol fees, and Ethereum's dominance in the non-fungible token (NFT) market.

To assess whether Ether can sustain its $2,000 price point, one must consider the repercussions of Binance's recent regulatory challenges following its plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ).

Investor fear drops as Ethereum network conditions improve

Binance leads in Ether spot trading volume, accounting for 30% of ETH futures contracts' open interest. The closure of Binance's $2.35 billion worth of ETH derivatives contracts within a short period could have significant consequences. Despite initial analyses showing minimal changes in spreads and liquidity, Binance witnessed net outflows of $1.53 billion between Nov. 21 and Nov. 23, as reported by DefiLlama.

The regulatory landscape presents risks and opportunities. Some view Binance's actions as evidence of sufficient reserves, while others are concerned about the $4.3 billion fine facing Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao. Notably, Bitcoin advocate Luke Broyles advised followers to withdraw their coins from exchanges.

Even if Binance continues operations and safeguards all client assets, the long-term effects of full compliance and increased scrutiny remain uncertain. Additionally, the relationship between Binance and stablecoin issuers like Tether (USDT), TrueUSD (TUSD) and Binance USD (BUSD) raises further questions.

XRP (XRP) price has dropped 18.5% from its local high of $0.67 on Nov. 23. And, it appears the cryptocurrency will suffer more selloffs in the coming weeks.

XRP technicals hint at extended correction

XRP has failed to break above a descending trendline resistance since January 2018. And, it fell short of logging a breakout above in November 2023, as well, illustrating a psychological selling pressure around the line.

Each bearish rejection after testing the descending trendline resistance has historically resulted in a decline toward the ascending support trendline. 

The downside target appears around $0.50, interestingly closer to XRP's 50-week (the red wave) and 200-week (the blue wave) exponential moving averages (EMA). Thus, XRP's price risks declining by 20% before 2024, if this fractal plays out.

Potential XRP transfers to exchanges

XRP's bearish outlook picks more cues from the supply distribution data tracked its richest cohorts.

The director of Netflix’s sci-fi series Conquest reportedly used $4 million from the show’s budget to bet on Dogecoin (DOGE) and made $27 million in the process.

Now the director, Carl Erik Rinsch, wants another $14 million from Netflix, according to a Nov. 22 report in The New York Times citing a confidential arbitration proceeding.

The Times report details the behind-the-scenes drama of Rinsch’s sci-fi Netflix series Conquest, which the streaming giant doled out $55 million to make, but is yet to receive an episode.

In March 2020, 16 months after Netflix bought Rinsch’s idea and provided him with an initial budget of $44 million, the director asked for more funds. Netflix obliged and wired him $11 million on the condition he finished the show.

According to financial statements obtained by the Times Rinsch used $10.5 million from the fresh funding to gamble on the stock market and allegedly lost nearly $6 million in just a few weeks by placing options bets on pharmaceutical companies and the S&P 500,