Category: NEWS

Ongoing developments on the global stage continue to cause havoc in traditional markets and in the cryptocurrency sector.

Despite these headwinds, projects in the Waves ecosystem have managed to climb higher in both price and total value locked (TVL) as a renewed focus on interoperability with popular blockchain networks brought fresh momentum.

Here’s a closer look at the top-performing assets in the Waves ecosystem that have managed to post positive gains despite negative macroeconomic factors that are pressuring cryptocurrencies.

Neutrino

​Neutrino is an algorithmic price-stable “assetization protocol” that creates stablecoins tied to real-world assets and cryptocurrencies.

Neutrino USD (USDN) is the main stablecoin of the Waves ecosystem and it goes along with the Neutrino Token (NSBT), a recapitalization and governance token that also enables the creation of stablecoins.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and CoinGecko shows that since hitting a low of $7.07 on Jan. 22, the price of NSBT has rocketed 300% to hit a daily high of $30.33 on March 9.

While NSBT price was climbing, the TVL on the protocol also surged from $379.77 million on Feb. 22 to its current value of $1.15 billion, according to data from Defi Llama.

Vires Finance

Vires Finance (VIRES) is a decentralized, non-custodial liquidity protocol on the Waves blockchain that uses common pool-based mechanics to create equally distributed interest.

According to data from CoinGecko, activity for VIRES began to pick up on Jan. 18 when its price hit a low of $19.30 and proceeded to surge 460% to hit an all-time of $108.44 on Jan. 24 and has since entered a consolidation period with its price currently trading near the $85 mark.

The total value locked on the VIRES protocol has increased from a low of $115.84 million on Feb. 1 to an all-time high of $764.23 million on March 8, according to data from Defi Llama.

Related: 3 reasons why Waves price gained 100%+ in the last week

Waves

WAVES token has been the main driver of growth for the Waves ecosystem over the past six weeks, thanks in large part to the ongoing migration to Waves 2.0. The new blockchain will support advanced interoperability features that connect Waves to the major blockchain networks in the cryptocurrency sector.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of WAVES has climbed 192% from a low of $8.37 on Feb. 24 to a daily high at $27.61 on March 9 as its 24-hour trading volume hit a record $2.13 billion.

With the recent wave of economic sanctions pummeling Russia’s economy and the removal of easy payment rails, it’s possible that some people have turned to WAVES as one option for financial transactions and wealth preservation.

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for WAVES on March 5, prior to the recent price rise.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for WAVES climbed into the green zone on March 5 and hit a high of 77 around four hours before the price began to increase 46% over the next three days.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin (BTC) soared on March 9 as the Dow futures recovered sharply and United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s statement on President Joe Biden’s executive order regarding digital assets, which was released a day earlier by error, contained positive statements about the crypto industry.

For the past few days, investors seem to have been accumulating cryptocurrencies at lower levels. CoinShares data for the week ending March 6 shows that cumulative inflows of $127 million into digital asset investment products were the highest since Dec. 12, 2021, and Bitcoin products saw an increase for the seventh consecutive week.

However, Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone sounded cautious when he warned that the current geopolitical situation and surging crude oil prices caused a global recession, Bitcoin and Ether could face selling pressure initially. McGlone cautioned that if the U.S. equity markets plunge, Ether could drop to $1,700 because it is closely correlated to Nasdaq 100.

Could Bitcoin and altcoins sustain the higher levels? Let’s analyze the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

BTC/USDT

The failure of the bears to pull the price below the immediate support at $37,000 may have attracted strong buying by the bulls. Bitcoin has soared above the moving averages today.

The relative strength index (RSI) has jumped into the positive territory, indicating that the momentum may be turning bullish. If buyers sustain the price above the moving averages, the BTC/USDT pair could rise to the overhead zone between $45,000 and the resistance line of the ascending channel. The bears are expected to defend this zone with vigor.

If the price turns down from the overhead zone, the pair could extend its stay inside the channel for a few more days. The bears will have to pull and sustain the price below the support line of the channel to gain control.

ETH/USDT

The bears could not capitalize on the breakdown below the symmetrical triangle. Strong buying by the bulls near $2,400 started a recovery and Ether (ETH) has re-entered the triangle. This suggests that the recent breakdown may have been a bear trap.

The bulls are attempting to push and sustain the price above the moving averages. If they do that, the ETH/USDT pair could rally to the resistance line of the triangle. If bulls clear this barrier, it will suggest the possible start of a new uptrend. The pair could first rally toward the psychological level at $4,000 and then make a dash toward the pattern target at $4,311.

This positive view will invalidate if the price turns down from the current level or the resistance line. That could keep the pair inside the triangle for a few more days. The bears will have to pull the pair below $2,400 to gain the upper hand.

BNB/USDT

Binance Coin (BNB) has broken above the 50-day simple moving average ($392) and if bulls sustain the higher levels, the up-move could reach the overhead resistance at $445.

The bears are likely to mount a strong defense at $445. If the price turns down from this level, the BNB/USDT pair could drop to the moving averages. The flat 20-day exponential moving average ($387) and the RSI near the midpoint indicate a balance between supply and demand.

If bulls fail to sustain the price above the 50-day SMA, the bears will fancy their chances and try to pull the pair toward the support at $350. The price action inside the range between $445 and $350 is likely to remain volatile.

XRP/USDT

The bulls continue to defend the 50-day SMA ($0.72), indicating strong demand at lower levels. The buyers will now try to push and sustain Ripple (XRP) above the downtrend line.

If they succeed, the buying could accelerate and the XRP/USDT pair may rally to the overhead zone between $0.85 and $0.91. This zone may offer strong resistance by the bears but if the bulls bulldoze their way through, the pair could rally to the psychological level at $1.

On the downside, the bears will have to pull and sustain the price below $0.68 to turn the tables in their favor. The pair could then drop to the Feb. 24 intraday low at $0.62.

LUNA/USDT

Terra’s LUNA token bounced off the 20-day EMA ($77) on March 8, indicating that the sentiment remains positive and traders are buying on dips.

The bulls have pushed the price above the overhead resistance at $94 and the LUNA/USDT pair is now close to the all-time high at $103. This level is likely to act as a stiff resistance but if bulls overcome this barrier, it will suggest the start of a new uptrend. The pair could then rally toward $125.

Alternatively, if the rally stalls at $103, the bears will attempt to pull the price back below $94. If that happens, the bullish momentum could weaken in the short term. The positive momentum could remain intact as long as the price sustains above $94.

SOL/USDT

Solana (SOL) has bounced off the critical support at $81, indicating strong demand at this level. The RSI has formed a positive divergence, suggesting that the selling pressure could be reducing.

The bulls will now try to push the price above the downtrend line. If they manage to do that, it will invalidate the developing descending triangle pattern. Such a move may result in short-covering by the aggressive bulls, propelling the price toward the overhead resistance at $122. If bulls clear this hurdle, it could signal the start of a new uptrend.

This bullish assumption will invalidate if the price turns down and breaks below the strong support at $81. That will complete the descending triangle pattern and open the doors for a possible drop to $66.

ADA/USDT

Cardano (ADA) bounced off the $0.74 support, indicating that bulls are buying on dips. The bulls will now attempt to push the price above the 20-day EMA ($0.90) and challenge the psychological level at $1.

If the price turns down from $1, it will suggest that bears continue to sell at higher levels. The ADA/USDT pair could then spend some time inside the $0.74 to $1 range.

If bears sink the price below $0.74, the downtrend could resume. The pair could then drop to the next support at $0.68.

On the other hand, if bulls push and sustain the price above $1, it will signal a possible change in the short-term trend. The pair could then rise to $1.26 where the bears may mount a strong resistance.

Related: Trader gives $44K BTC price target as Bitcoin shrugs off executive order ‘nothingburger’

AVAX/USDT

Avalanche (AVAX) bounced off the uptrend line, indicating that bulls continue to buy on dips to this level. The buyers will now attempt to push the price to the downtrend line of the descending channel.

A break and close above the channel will signal a potential change in trend. The AVAX/USDT pair could then rally to the psychological level at $100.

However, this may not be easy because the price has turned down from the downtrend line on four previous occasions. The bears will again try to stall the up-move at this level. If the price turns down from the downtrend line, the bears will again try to sink the pair below the uptrend line. If they pull it off, the pair could extend its decline to $51.

DOT/USDT

The bulls held on to the support at $16 on March 7, which is a positive sign. Polkadot (DOT) will now attempt to break above the 50-day SMA ($18), which is an important level to keep an eye on.

If the price sustains above the 50-day SMA, it will indicate a possible change in the short-term trend. The DOT/USDT pair could then rally to the overhead resistance at $23. A break and close above this level could signal the start of a new uptrend with the first target objective at $30 and then $32.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the 50-day SMA, it will suggest that bears are not willing to relent and are selling on rallies. That will increase the possibility of a break below $16.

DOGE/USDT

Dogecoin (DOGE) broke and closed below $0.12 on March 7 but the bears could not take advantage of this breakdown. This indicates that bulls are defending the zone between $0.12 and $0.10 aggressively.

The bulls have pushed the price back above the breakdown level at $0.12. If the DOGE/USDT pair sustains above this level, the bulls will attempt to drive the price above the moving averages. If they succeed, it will suggest that bears may be losing their grip. The pair could then rally to the overhead resistance at $0.17.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the moving averages, it will indicate that bears have not yet given up and are selling on rallies. The sellers will then again try to sink the pair below the support zone.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Market data is provided by HitBTC exchange.

On Wednesday, total crypto donations across Ukrainian government wallet addresses, charities and relief efforts tracked by Cointelegraph has reached $108 million. The top three recipients of such funds are the official Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) wallet addresses of the Ukrainian government, and a BTC donations address for Come Back Alive. 

The same day, Kraken announced that it would distribute over $10 million to clients who created an account from Ukraine before Mar 9 for relief efforts. Regardless of their account balance, Ukrainian clients of Kraken will receive $1,000 in BTC each during the first tranche of fund disbursement, which ca be withdrawn immediately. The exchange also waived currency exchange fees for withdrawals of up to $1,000. Jesse Powell, Kraken’s CEO, gave the following remarks regarding the aid package: 

“Cryptocurrency remains an important humanitarian tool, especially at a time when many around the world can no longer rely on traditional banks and custodians.”

Funds will be distributed throughout the year, in part to give Ukrainian residents time to complete Kraken’s “intermediate” Know-Your-Customer verification process. Perhaps ironically, fees collected from Russia-based Kraken accounts will partly fund the aid package.

Kraken will distribute over $10 million worth of to aid clients in Ukraine. Tranche 1 recipients will be credited $1000 of #BTC, withdrawable tomorrow. The package is funded by historical Ukraine revenues and H1 2022 revenues from Russia-based trading.https://t.co/DdkY2TsVoB

— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) March 9, 2022

Bored Ape Yacht Club, or BAYC, also joined in on the crypto fundraising efforts for Ukraine on Wednesday. After collecting nearly $1 million in ETH from wallets containing a BAYC nonfungible token, the developers behind BAYC said it would match the contribution with a $1 million ETH donation of their own.

It’s been inspiring seeing our community come together in support of Ukraine – almost $1m in ETH has been donated to @Ukraine by wallets containing a BAYC ecosystem NFT. Today we’re matching that with a $1m ETH donation of our own. ♥️

— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) March 8, 2022

Other notable contributions include Binance’s Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund, which has received over $11.3 million in BTC, BNB and Binance USD since inception. In addition, during its last update on March 3, it appears Kuna’s Crypto Fund of Ukraine has received over $14 million in major altcoins such as Polkadot (DOT), Tether (USDT), Candle (CNDL), USD Coin (USDC) and Dai (DAI). 

Terra’s LUNA resumed its upward march this week, with the price of the token rebounding more than 30% in three days.

LUNA’s price reached nearly $100 on March 9 following a 15% intraday rally, coming near its record high of $106 from December 2021. At its week-to-date (WTD) low, the Terra token was trading at $75.60.

Over 120 million LUNA burned already

The recent bout of buying in the LUNA market appeared in part due to similar recoveries elsewhere in the crypto market. For instance, Terra’s leading competitor in the smart contract space, Ethereum, saw its Ether (ETH) token rise by 13.50% during the same period. Similarly, Bitcoin (BTC) also jumped by over 14% from its WTD low below $37,200.

Arthur Cheong, founder of DeFiance Capital, hinted on March 9 that LUNA price increased because of Terra’s ability to capture at least $1 trillion or more worth of decentralized stablecoin market space via its native U.S. dollar-pegged token, TerraUSD (UST).

The total addressable market size for the de-facto decentralized stablecoin is at least a few trillion dollars.$LUNA

— Arthur ⛩️ (@Arthur_0x) March 9, 2022

Notably, the supply of UST tokens reached over 1.4 billion on March 9, its highest level to date, according to data from Smart Stake. At the same time, the Terra protocol removed 120 million LUNA tokens from the supply permanently.

To recap: LUNA maintains UST’s dollar peg. So, if the stablecoin’s price rises above $1, the Terra protocol burns LUNA and mints more stablecoins. Similarly, if UST’s price falls below $1, LUNA’s valuation declines in tandem due to a slowdown in the burning mechanism.

Thus, an increasing UST supply likely boosted LUNA’s price rally in addition to the broader recovery in the crypto market.

Terra TVL hits all-time high

LUNA’s gains also appeared against the backdrop of more capital flowing into the Terra ecosystem.

The total value locked inside the Terra protocol surged from nearly $18 billion at the beginning of this year to $25.58 billion as of March 9, its highest level to date. This includes a spike in total locked LUNA tokens from 215.80 million to 298.89 million in the same period.

Terra also emerged as the highest staked asset among all the cryptocurrencies on a 24-hour adjusted timeframe, with over $35.75 million worth of LUNA tokens now locked across multiple platforms, according to data resource Staking Rewards.

What’s next for LUNA price?

While LUNA looks poised to establish a new record high this week, its longer-timeframe technical indicators suggest the possibility of downside risk.

Related: Ethereum’s TVL dominance drops to 55% as Bloomberg analyst paints $1.7K bearish target

For instance, LUNA/USD has shown a clear bearish divergence between its rising prices and falling momentum, as indicated by its weekly relative strength index — forming lower highs since the beginning of 2021 — in the chart below.

Similarly, the volumes attached with LUNA’s recent weekly price rally also appeared weaker, further suggesting that the underlying upside momentum could stall. If this happens, LUNA will risk undergoing a sharp pullback to test its exponential moving averages (EMA), primarily the 20-week EMA (approximately $64) and the 50-week EMA (approximately $38), as supports.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Blockchain network Avalanche announced the launch of Avalanche Multiverse, an incentive program that will accelerate the adoption of subnets that are app-specific blockchain ecosystems.

According to the director of Avalanche Foundation, Emin Gün Sirer, subnets are the next big thing on the blockchain. GünSirer said that subnets enable functions that are only possible with “network-level control and open experimentation.” He also mentioned that while smart contracts carried innovations within blockchain in the last five years, he believes subnets are next.

The program will allocate up to four million Avalanche (AVAX), worth roughly $290 million, to fund blockchain gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and institutional use cases.

The Avalanche Multiverse is headlined by many prominent collaborators including DeFi Kingdoms, Aave, Golden Tree Asset Management, Wintermute, Jump Crypto, Valkyrie and Securitize.

The program will be bringing a subnet that’s specific to DeFi Kingdoms with incentives worth $15 million. According to Frisky Fox, a DeFi Kingdoms executive, Avalanche‘s subnet technology is a “perfect fit” for their project. “The entire DeFi Kingdoms universe is written into smart contracts, pushing the envelope of what is possible with blockchain technology,” says Fox.

Avalanche’s core developer Ava Labs will also be working with the rest of the collaborators to build an integrated blockchain with native Know Your Customer (KYC) functions created specifically for institutional DeFi.

Wes Cowan, managing director of DeFi at Valkyrie Investments, says that “Avalanche’s subnet with KYC infrastructure, will be a massive step forward for institutional adoption and we are proud to support the implementation.”

Related: Terra, Avalanche and Osmosis lead the L1 recovery while Bitcoin searches for support

Meanwhile, crypto exchange platform FTX has also created a fund that aims to support projects that are “massively scalable” and provide long-term solutions for humanity. The FTX Future Fund will deploy up to $2 billion for projects ranging from artificial intelligence, biorisk danger reduction and efficient altruism.

Bitcoin (BTC) hit $42,000 on March 9 as an impressive overnight candle saw bulls reclaim support levels.

Trader: Market “still fragile”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD abruptly “squeeze” through previous resistance at $39,600, going on to deliver 24-hour gains of 11.3%.

Amid local highs of $42,438 on Bitstamp, the mood among traders was also improving, but caution remained. 

Multiple macro factors: The Russia-Ukraine war, inflation and the United States‘ incoming executive order on cryptocurrency all kept commentators wary.

“I can’t deny that the market is looking a bit better after this move. However, still very fragile, short timeframe and uncertain,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe said as part of Twitter comments on the day.

Fellow trader and analyst Pentoshi was similarly cool on the performance, which took Bitcoin back to the upper segment of a range where it had lingered throughout 2022.

IF 40.7k holds on the 1D/3D THEN will look once again for the yearly open for a third time prev was from near blue “value area”. First two both came up just short. Third time likely the charm IF 40.7k holds

Below 40.7k = no bueno

Targets:
Hold 46.2k
and 52-53k https://t.co/zMkoiCZcjV pic.twitter.com/tSigWopXn3

— Pentoshi (@Pentosh1) March 9, 2022

“This was a nice squeeze, but ultimately want to see Bitcoin reclaim 46-47k to feel confident that momentum has been regained,” William Clemente, lead insights analyst at mining firm Blockware, added.

Bets remained open as to the impact of Thursday‘s consumer price index (CPI) data for February. This is expected to be 7.9% and a key driver of short-term volatility for BTC/USD.

The data would precede the following week‘s decision on key interest rates from the Federal Reserve, with expectations just as varied as to its scope.

“IMO BTC‘s first dip from 60k to 30k in 2021 was caused by China‘s mining ban. The second dip from 60k to 30k in 2021 was caused by inflation combined with possible rate hikes & QE ending,” PlanB, creator of the stock-to-flow family of Bitcoin price models, argued.

“Currently the odds of rate hikes & QE ending seem low.”

LUNA returns to top major altcoin returns

Bitcoin thus performed strongly even against many altcoins, with the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap struggling to keep up.

Related: Bitcoin stems losses after US bans Russian oil, gold heads to record highs

Ether (ETH) was up 7.2% on the day at the time of writing, while others were flatter such as Ripple (XRP) on 3.7%.

The briskest gains belonged to Terra (LUNA) once again with LUNA/USD targeting 20% gains and its highest since mid-January.

The phrase “hindsight is 20/20” is a perfect expression for financial markets because every price chart pattern and analysis is obvious after the movement has occurred.

For example, traders playing the Feb. 28 pump that took Bitcoin (BTC) above $43,000 should have known that the price would face some resistance. Considering that the market had previously rejected at $44,500 on multiple instances, calling for a retest below $40,000 made perfect sense, right?

This is a common fallacy, known as “post hoc” in which one event is said to be the cause of a later event merely because it had occurred earlier. The truth is, one will always find analysts and pundits calling for continuation and rejection after a significant price move.

Usually after strong #Bitcoin rallies like the one we just saw today, we tend to get follow through.

As I said earlier, the sheer disbelief during this rally has me optimistic in the short-term.

Still no guarantees of new highs immediately, but at least maybe a local uptrend.

— Benjamin Cowen (@intocryptoverse) March 1, 2022

Meanwhile, on March 2, Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin “could force a $34K retest.” The analysis cited an “ailing momentum” because Russia had just announced its invasion of Ukraine.

In the past seven days, the aggregate market capitalization performance of the cryptocurrency market showed an 11.5% retrace to $1.76 trillion and this move erased the gains from the previous week. Large cap assets like Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and Terra (LUNA) were equally impacted, reflecting nearly 12% losses in the period.

Only two tokens were able to present positive performances over the past seven days. WAVES rallied for the second consecutive week as the network upgrade to become Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible advanced. The transition is scheduled to start in the spring and the new consensus mechanism will provide a “smoother transition to Waves 2.0.”

THORChain (RUNE) jumped after completing its Terra (LUNA) ecosystem integration, enabling the blockchain to support all Cosmos-based projects. ThorChain users now have more trading and staking options available, including TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin.

Funding rates flipped positive

Perpetual contracts, also known as inverse swaps, have an embedded rate usually charged every eight hours. Perpetual futures are retail traders’ preferred derivatives because their price tends to track regular spot markets perfectly.

Exchanges use this fee to avoid exchange risk imbalances. A positive funding rate indicates that longs (buyers) demand more leverage. However, the opposite situation occurs when shorts (sellers) require additional leverage, causing the funding rate to turn negative.

Notice how the accumulated seven-day funding rate flipped positive in all of the top four coins. This data indicates slightly higher demand from longs (buyers) but is not yet significant. For example, Bitcoin’s positive 0.10% weekly rate equals 0.4% per month, which is not eventful for traders building futures’ positions.

Typically, when there’s an imbalance caused by excessive optimism, the rate can easily surpass 4.6% per month.

Options data is pricing in a potential price crash

Currently, there is not any clear direction in the market, but the 25% delta options skew is a telling sign whenever market makers overcharge for upside or downside protection.

If professional traders fear a Bitcoin price crash, the skew indicator will move above 10%. On the other hand, generalized excitement reflects a negative 10% skew.

As displayed above, the skew indicator held 10% until March 4, but slightly reduced to 7% or 8% during the week. Despite this, the indicator shows that pro traders are pricing higher odds for a market crash.

There are mixed feelings coming from retail traders’ futures data, which shows a shift moving away from a slightly negative sentiment versus options market makers pricing in a higher risk of a further crash.

Some might say that the third failure to break the $44,500 resistance was the nail in the coffin because Bitcoin failed to display strength during a period of global macroeconomic uncertainty and strong commodities demand.

On the other hand, the crypto sector’s current $1.76 trillion market capitalization can hardly be deemed unsuccessful, so there’s still hope for buyers.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Crypto bear markets are known for their downturns and their liquidations for investors who are trading with leverage. On top of that, decentralized finance, or DeFi, projects can become targeted by hacks or suffer rug pulls, leading to enormous losses for investors of their tokens. Now new software seeks to alert investors in real-time about potential risks to their positions. 

Users and executives from two such services, HAL and Aldrin, explain. HAL is a Web3 data infrastructure tool allowing companies or traders to track, monitor and trigger data. HAL recently launched simple API notifications on Avalanche (AVAX), which seeks to enable users on the blockchain to automate notifications of risky positions. Meanwhile, Aldrin is the first fully-audited decentralized exchange, or DEX, on Solana (SOL). 

Marco De Rossi, the co-founder of HAL, explained that users can notify anyone on any channel of suspicious DeFi activities on an address with wallet monitoring. “We already have hundreds of Avalanche users playing with Pangolin (PNG), Sushiswap (SUSHI), Aave (AAVE) and also wallet monitoring and much more. In addition, TraderJoe is soon coming, as well as the top 10 Avalanche ecosystem apps in general,” says Rossi.

Meanwhile, a HAL user, who wished to remain anonymous, told Cointelegraph:

“I use AAVE, and HAL directly integrated with them, allowing me to be notified if my position there becomes at risk; without me refreshing their dashboard, I can then take action quickly.”

The anonymous user added that: “I may also want to be the first to know when something new comes up, and for this, HAL allows me to follow every new smart contract deployed by a developer I follow, that way, I can start my research faster and stay up to date.”

Regarding the price volatility of tokens, Hisham Khan, founder and CEO of Aldrin, explained that it could be very difficult to execute trades manually and get a reasonably decent price. “If you’re exposed to smaller or even mid-market cap tokens, the downside when Bitcoin or Ethereum breaks certain support levels is insane; you can lose 70% gain within 48 hours,” said Khan.

He raised the example of rebalancing a portfolio of 25 tokens taking up to 30 minutes if done manually, but allegedly only seconds if done via Aldrin’s rebalancing feature. “The automation features provided by Aldrin such as the Rebalancer and auto-rebalance when providing liquidity in pools saves me a lot of time,” commented an Aldrin user, who wished to remain anonymous. 

Like all DEXs, Aldrin faces potential security risks. But according to Khan, Aldrin has been fully audited and would thus have greater strength to combat those risks. He added:

“There is always the risk of impermanent loss risk that liquidity providers are exposed to. The projected returns […] could be false or scams if the underlying token is not under Aldrin pools […] but this is made clear as a disclaimer to the users.”

“The Market Report” with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss which Terra-based coins you should be looking out for in 2022.

But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down.

Next up, the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as they debate which Terra-based coin has the most explosive potential. Will it be Bourgi’s pick of StarTerra, which capitalizes on blockchains’ biggest trends — play-to-earn, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and staking — basically combining multiple multibillion-dollar industries?

Bringing his pick to the table next is Yuan with Loop Finance, which aims to launch the world’s first decentralized finance NFT marketplace that will include NFTs linked directly to DeFi protocols such as Anchor Protocol? It will also launch a content creation platform where creators will be rewarded in LOOPR tokens for creating quality crypto content. There is a lot happening with the project, but will it be enough to win the votes of the audience?

Lastly, we have Finneseth with his pick of Mirror Protocol, which is currently the sixth-ranked protocol by total value locked on Terra, with $594.63 million locked on the protocol. Assets on the protocol “mirror” versions of real-world assets by reflecting the exchange prices on-chain. These assets include Apple, Airbnb, Amazon, Microsoft, PayPal and Tesla stock along with major cryptocurrencies. It seems like a clear winner, but you’ll have to wait and see.

After the showdown, we’ve got insights from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, a platform for crypto traders who want to stay one step ahead of the market. The analysts use Cointelegraph Markets Pro to identify two altcoins that stood out this week: Anchor Protocol’s ANC and Waves WAVES.

Do you have a question about a coin or topic not covered here? Don’t worry. Join the YouTube chat room, and write your questions there. The person with the most interesting comment or question will be given a free month of Cointelegraph Markets Pro, worth $100.

“The Market Report” streams live every Tuesday at 12:00 pm ET (5:00 pm UTC), so be sure to head on over to Cointelegraph’s YouTube page and smash those like and subscribe buttons for all our future videos and updates.

Mama Bitcoin is the pseudonym claimed by a young Senegalese Bitcoiner called Bineta. Her business, Bleu comme la mer, was the first retailer in Senegal (and possibly West Africa) to accept crypto as payment. She’s also the first generation of her family to read and write proficiently. 

The name Mama Bitcoin takes inspiration from the initials of her name, while the “mama” not only reflects her motherly instincts but serves to inspire other women in West Africa to get into blockchain technology and Bitcoin (BTC). She told Cointelegraph:

“There are very few women that are active in the blockchain space around the world and the situation is no different in Senegal. I wanted to shine a light on being a woman in the crypto industry.”

Bineta first stumbled across Bitcoin in early 2017 thanks to a curious combination of good intentions and incongruous circumstances. Bineta had dreams of opening her village’s first bakery, a small fishing village called Mbour 90 minutes south of Senegal‘s capital, Dakar. But, in order to deliver warm pains au chocolat to the community each morning, Bineta needed money.

It’s incredibly difficult to get a bank loan for a business idea in West Africa, and it’s even harder for women. Bineta had to search for alternative means. She tried a multi-level marketing scheme (MLM) before hearing from a friend in Cameroon that Bitcoin might fit the bill.

After copious research, Bineta‘s curiosity sparked. She quickly realized that Bitcoin was far more important for her vision than a potentially risky MLM scheme. Fast-forward to mid-2017 and Mama Bitcoin had spent hours and hours devouring Bitcoin-related content in French and in English, translating where possible.

She’d arrived at the conclusion that Bitcoin is more than just a “number go up” technology — it could build far more than a new village bakery:

“The more I learned, the more I realized we need this. This kind of money will help overcome so many issues. Not only is Bitcoin a tool for freedom, but the technology underpinning Bitcoin such as blockchain and decentralization will change Africa‘s development.”

The journey down the Bitcoin rabbit hole shifted Bineta‘s plans up a gear. The bakery (Bineta jokes it would have been called the Bitcoin Boulangerie) was dropped and a vision for Bitcoin in West Africa took its place.

As the progress and the price of Bitcoin rose during the 2017 bull run, her understanding of the protocol evolved.

“Bitcoin isn’t just a means of self-financing without using a bank, it’s a technological revolution and a way of unlocking growth and development in Senegal.”

Questions such as “why is it so big yet why do so few Senegalese people talk about it, why is the media avoiding this critical topic, why doesn’t Senegal use this tool and why are there so few women talking about it?” kept swirling in her head.

Bineta set to work, penning articles about Bitcoin on social media websites, reaching out to the Senegalese Bitcoin and crypto community and reevaluating her goals.

Drawing from past experience in business and given the proximity of Senegal to the Atlantic ocean, Bineta allowed herself to dream bigger. She conceived then established an ambitious seaside operation called Bleu comme la mer.

A fishing commerce platform, Bleu comme la mer connects fishermen directly with consumers, removing the middleman. It is the first business in Senegal to accept Bitcoin as payment. They also accept Ether (ETH) and Tezos (XTZ). In fact, Mama Bitcoin founded the Tezos community in West Africa.

Sardines, shrimp, octopus and squid — anything that can be fished from the Atlantic — are available to buy with cryptocurrency on the platform. Bineta adds:

“Payment with cryptocurrencies shows that, contrary to what many people think, Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment solution, not a speculative asset.”

The blockchain vision extends merely beyond cryptocurrency payments. Bineta has focused on making Bleu comme la Mer into a decentralized e-commerce platform where fishermen log their catches and consumers can see exactly what was fished and from where.

Not only does the decentralized platform aim to streamline the fishing industry, but it also strives to undermine overfishing, a harmful yet common activity in West Africa’s waters.

Related: One man’s plan to orange pill a nation: Bitcoin Senegal

Nonetheless, “Senegalese and West Africans are quite skeptical about Bitcoin.” Getting more women into crypto, a passion project of hers, remains a long-standing challenge.

However, there is hope. At Dakar’s first in-person Bitcoin meetup in 2022, there were three women out of 20 participants. It’s a small but strong start, undoubtedly boosted by Mama Bitcoin‘s infectious energy and zest for cryptocurrency.