Bitcoin (BTC) market cap overtakes Visa; $45 million in Ethereum burned since Merge; SEC accuses Terraform Labs and Do Kwon of laundering 10,000 Bitcoins.
Bitcoin (BTC) market cap overtakes Visa
According to CoinMarketCap data, Visa has a market cap of $469 billion, while Bitcoin has a market cap of $470 billion. However, this is not the first time this has happened. Bitcoin’s market cap surpassed Visa for the third time.
However, BTC’s first overtake of Visa took place in December 2020. At that time, the BTC price was around $25,000. The Bitcoin market value surpassed Visa’s market value, when BTC surged from $10,200 in September 2020 to $63,170 in just 7 months.
This leadership was disrupted by the collapse of FTX in November 2022. As it is known, the dates between 6-10 November in FTX were deleted 100 billion dollars.
In addition, considering the small difference of 1 billion dollars between BTC and Visa, it is worth saying that both of them outperform each other at certain intervals.
On the other hand, when the market value of Bitcoin is compared with the market value of Mastercard, Google Finance data put Mastercard in third place. Mastercard’s market capitalization is currently around $345.24 billion.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-market-cap-flips-payments-giant-visa-for-the-3rd-time
$45 million in Ethereum burned since Merge
Following the burn mechanism that came with the Merge upgrade, $45 million worth of Ether (30,000 Ether) was destroyed on Ethereum. With the increased network activity, the burning speed in the network reached the highest levels.
The Merge upgrade, which has a significant place in the crypto industry, aimed to turn the Ethereum network from a proof-of-work algorithm to a proof-of-stake. With this upgrade, transaction speed has increased while transaction fees have decreased. Along with this, a new incineration mechanism has also been introduced, which permanently removes Ether from circulation and reduces the current supply of the token.
The recent increase in burn rates is a positive development for the Ethereum network. This demonstrates that the transition to proof-of-stake is progressing positively and new features such as the burn mechanism are working stably.
One of the essential factors in the increase in the efficiency of the Ethereum network is the rise of Layer 2 networks, which enable faster and cheaper transactions on the network, and the DeFi industry, which has a large share in the network’s prominence in recent years.
While the new burn mechanism that comes with the Merge upgrade is designed to reduce the supply of Ether, it cannot be said to increase the value of the asset definitively. The final value of the asset is determined within the framework of investor sentiment and market demand.
https://u.today/45-million-in-ethereum-eth-gone-forever-since-merge-heres-how-price-reacts
SEC accuses Terraform Labs and Do Kwon of laundering 10,000 Bitcoins
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an accusation against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon, stating that both parties laundered more than $100 million in Bitcoin from the platform following its May 2022 collapse.
According to the accusation filed by the SEC, Do Kwon and Terraform Labs transferred 10,000 Bitcoins (BTC) from the platform and the Luna Foundation Guard to their cold wallets. Later, the SEC noted that the funds were transferred to a Swedish bank account to be converted into fiat currency. The SEC says Kwon and his company have access to more than $100 million in cash since withdrawals began in June 2022.
However, the SEC claimed that, in addition to identifying Bitcoin stock, Kwon and Terra artificially repaired the dollar-pegged stablecoin TerraUSD (UST).
The SEC also argued that many of the tokens involved in Terra’s collapse were securities. According to the SEC, these assets include UST, LUNA, and wLUNA, as well as MIR tokens and mAssets developed under Terra’s Mirror Protocol.
On the other hand, Do Kwon has continued to actively post on Twitter, despite accusations from many investors and regulators since the collapse of Terraform Labs. Also, Do Kwon is still on the run and has not been fully traced. According to recent statements, intelligence has been received that Kwon may last be in Serbia. Thereupon, the South Korean authorities sent two prosecutors to Serbia to track down Kwon.
