The Solana network experienced a major outage on Feb. 6, 10:22 UTC; ProShares recognizes the effects of the spot Bitcoin ETF; XRP’s parent organization, dumped 120 million XRP tokens after the SEC attained the upper hand in the legal battle
Solana Mainnet-Beta is experiencing downtime in block production as block progression is currently halted, and core engineers and validators are actively investigating. The Solana Blockchain Explorer confirmed it by flashing a “major outage” on the main net.
Users on social media started to notice that the Solana blockchain hasn’t produced a block in over 25 minutes, which is considerably long considering Solana has a block production time of 400 milliseconds.
Solana validator stakewiz notified that the developers are currently building a release containing remediation, once this has been built and tested, further instructions will be released to validators. The X account also noted that validators have begun generating snapshots using their local ledger state to prepare for a restart while core engineers are still preparing the release.
The Solana network outage has already started to impact crypto exchanges as Upbit announced it will suspend deposits and withdrawals of Solana-based tokens such as Upbit announced that due to the interruption, deposits, and withdrawals of SOL, GMT, RAY, and ACS will be suspended.
ProShares Recognizes the Effect of the Spot Bitcoin ETF
ProShares, a major issuer of futures-based Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), doesn’t face any threats potentially associated with the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, according to a senior executive.
The company’s flagship Bitcoin futures ETF, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), has seen “very efficient” trading volumes with the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs, Hyman said.
“We’re pretty darn happy with the commercial impact so far,” the executive asserted, adding that BITO is trading with two basis points, or 2/100th of a percent, off of its underlying value. “But we’ve actually seen an average premium or discount on the spot ETFs of 36 basis points,” he noted.
Apart from the commercial side, ProShares also sees operational benefits stemming from the spot Bitcoin ETFs-fueled adoption, as the entrance of spot ETFs is expected to bring more people to the Bitcoin market. Hyman said:
“With the entrance of spot ETFs, the futures market is getting better — even better. It was already a well-functioning and regulated place, but it’s actually gotten a little better when with the spot guys because there’s just more people around Bitcoin again.”
Hyman’s remarks somewhat correspond with BITO’s trading dynamics over the past few weeks and months, excluding abnormally massive trading volume days around Jan. 11, which came amid the craze around the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs.
On Jan. 11, BITO’s trading volumes spiked to as high as nearly $2 billion, while its normal trading volumes usually previously stood at roughly between $300 million and $600 million, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
Following the launch of spot BTC ETFs, BITO has continued to trade its usual figures, with trading volumes dropping to as low as $180 million on Feb. 2. Previously, BITO traded very similar volumes — $200 million and $120 million — on Dec. 9, 2023, and Nov. 30, 2023, respectively, according to Yahoo Finance data.
The news came amid major spot Bitcoin ETFs like BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) flipping BITO’s trading volumes last week for the first time. Before that, BITO was the largest Bitcoin ETF in the world in terms of trading volumes.
Ripple Dumps 120 Mln XRP After SEC Gains Upper Hand In Legal Quandary
Ripple’s XRP is holding above $0.50, however, it has noticed a significant downturn. Moreover, the XRP community experienced unrest due to a substantial sell-off by Ripple and notable whale activities. Compounding these concerns, Ripple executed a significant transfer of 120 million XRP tokens recently, intensifying fears of a sell-off amid increased market volatility.
In addition, this comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gained the upper hand in the Ripple vs. SEC case. The SEC recently won its motion to compel Ripple into providing its financial statements centered around XRP. These updates have aggravated the volatility in the XRP price currently.
A recent report by Whale Alert, an on-chain tracking platform, highlighted a substantial XRP transaction initiated by Ripple, the parent company. This massive transfer has unsettled the XRP community, sparking speculation of downward pressure on the XRP price amid the recent rebound. According to Whale Alert, Ripple unloaded 120 million XRP tokens, valued at $60.88 million, directing the transaction to an undisclosed wallet.
Whilst, Bithomp data indicates that Ripple’s XRP reserve is currently holding $80 million XRP tokens, equivalent to $40.27 million. Earlier, on February 1, Ripple added 200 million XRP tokens to its reserve, which suggests that it offloaded 60% of the freshly acquired tokens. Adding complexity to the situation, another notable whale transaction has surfaced, reported by Whale Alert.
The whale transaction involved the transfer of 28.85 million XRP tokens, valued at $14.62 million, to Bitstamp, a prominent crypto exchange based in Luxembourg. The transfer, executed via an unidentified wallet, further fuels apprehensions within the XRP community, especially as the crypto has recently climbed back above $0.50.