🚀 Solana Soars, Bitcoin Tumbles and Grayscale's Staking Groove: Today's Crypto Saga

In today’s update, Bitcoin hiccups after its record highs, Solana zooms past $140. Meanwhile, Grayscale unveils a crypto staking fund, aiming to capitalize on the market. In a surprising move, Deutsche Boerse joins the crypto pool with a new institutional trading platform. However, things aren't rosy everywhere. Binance says goodbye to Nigeria and Binance.US faces rough waters with layoffs and revenue drops amid legal troubles.

And as usual, explore opportunities to claim free coins in our Alpha section. Read on for more…

Meme of the Day

When Bitcoin Fell from ATH, due to Profit Booking

Market Movements - 05 Mar 2024

BTC crashed spectacularly to $59K after touching an ATH at $69K as a result of a massive Wall Street bear attack, taking down the rest of the crypto market with it. Some major coins, such as Bitcoin Cash (-14%), Cardano (-11%), Polygon (-11%), and Algorand (-10%), depreciated by ten percent or more within a few hours. Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq dropped more than 1% due to concerns over China and the tech sector's health.

What moved in the Crypto World Today

Grayscale Unveils Crypto Staking Fund, Turning HODLers into Gardeners

Grayscale, the brains behind the biggest BTC ETF, spices up the crypto scene with a new twist! Meet GDIF - Grayscale's Funky Fund, where staking meets profits in the grooviest way possible. Join the party with our Canary, as we ride the staking wave on Ethereum and other PoS blockchains, turning HODLers into stylish validators. With over 25% of Ethereum's ETH swirling in the staking dance, it's time to boogie with over $115 billion worth of staked Ether.

Read more here

Don't Worry, BTC is Just Taking a Breather!

Bitcoin went on a wild rollercoaster ride this week! It reached a new all-time high of $69,000, making everyone say "wowzers!", but then it took a nosedive faster than a runaway shopping cart, dropping more than 10% and dipping below $60,000.  This caused some major meltdowns for people who were using leverage (basically betting with borrowed money), and over $1.1 billion worth of crypto went poof!

But wait, our Canary suggests that things are only going to get crazier, with Bitcoin potentially reaching $250,000 sooner than anyone thinks.

Read more here

Solana Zooms Past $140, Becomes Cryptoverse's 4th Titan

Solana just became the fourth biggest crypto, beating BNB, by jumping over $140. Tokens all around the market were cheering with double-digit gains. SOL's skyrocketing journey took it to heights not seen in two years. This Solana shindig happened right after Bitcoin hit a brand spanking new all-time high, soaring past $69,000, before deciding to take a breather around $65,000. Read more here

Binance Bid Farewell to Nigeria, Naira Services Suspended

Canary has brought news for Nigerian Binance family. Your NGN is about to get converted to USDT starting March 8th at 8:00 UTC. Don't panic! You can still withdraw your NGN until March 5th, so don't let your funds become crypto-ghosts.

This change comes after the Nigerian government got a little spooked about the impact of crypto on their economy. So, Binance is basically saying "see ya later, alligator!" to NGN support for things like spot trading, P2P, Auto Invest, and Binance Pay.

The bottom line? Grab your NGN before it's gone or get ready for the USDT switcheroo!

Read more here

Deutsche Boerse Dives into Crypto Pool: Launches Institutional Spot Trading Platform

The financial juggernaut from Frankfurt, the Deutsche Börse Group, has unleashed the Deutsche Börse Digital Exchange (DBDX) for the elite squad of institutional clients craving crypto spot trading thrills.

This platform, conjured in collaboration with Crypto Finance, doesn't just stop at trading and settling; it boldly embraces the custody of cryptocurrencies as well. Initially, DBDX will play the field on a request-for-quote basis, with grand plans for a multilateral trading extravaganza down the line.

Imagine through our Canary’s eyes: Deutsche Börse keeping a keen eye on the trading spectacle, while Crypto Finance steps in to orchestrate the mesmerizing dance of settlement and custody services.

Read more here

Binance.US Cuts Workforce by Two-Thirds, Sees Revenue Plummet 75% Amid SEC Legal Showdown, COO Admits

Binance US went into chaos after the SEC accused them of breaking securities laws. The guy in charge, Christopher Blodgett, spilled the beans in a recent talk, saying the lawsuit hit them hard, like a punch in the gut.

Because of this mess, they had to lay off over 200 people, which is like chopping off two-thirds of their team since June.

After that happened, about $1 billion worth of stuff, including cryptocurrencies and regular money, was taken out of the platform. Blodgett also mentioned that the accusations made big investors lose trust in Binance.US.

Read more here

Funding Announcements

1. Baanx secures $20 Million to Bring Crypto Payments to the US of A!

   Source: Pymts

2. IO Research Rakes in $30 Million for Their Blockchain Tech

   Source: Reuters

3. Investors Say "HODL On!" to Utila, Showering $11.5 Million at the Institutional Crypto Platform in its Seed Funding

   Source: TheBlock

4. USC Professor Says "Shazam!" Creates AI Training Oasis with $6M Crypto Windfall

   Source: CoinDesk

Alpha Offerings

1. SatoshiVM Testnet NFT drop coming with alpha-mainnet!

   • NFT holders will receive vested $SAVM

   • More details here: https://bridge.satoshivm.io/savm/

2. Bybit Launchpool: Stake $NIBI or $USDT to Earn $NIBI prizes with Nibiru Chain

   • Listing Time: March 12, 8 AM UTC

   • https://nibiru.fi/docs/ecosystem/community/

3. Tuna Chain - Complete all 3 Tunachain Waves and claim Mystery Boxes

   • More details here

   • https://galxe.com/TunaChain/campaign/GCZPHt4FwT?referral_code=GRFr2JZqJemvXjMmJtdHpuGiaHbuSyHXG6QQOCKOTvrNSwk

4. Mocaverse raised $32M from OKX and Polygon

   • Complete Task and Earn Points:

     • Visit https://account.mocaverse.xyz/

     • Enter invitation code: JTS6XUN1WM | 9JU0V7KN5C | U0PGHNKW75

   • Claim Shard Mining:

     • Visit : https://www.mocaverse.xyz/shard-rush

     • Click Claim Shards

   • Complete Missions and Earn RP:

     • Visit: https://www.mocaverse.xyz/missions/ongoing

     • More RP = More Tokens

Hall of Fame, Hall of Shame

WOOFi faces $8.75M exploit on Arbitrum, offers bounty for return of funds

The mischievous incident involved an unidentified mastermind who artfully tinkered with WOOFi’s Synthetic Proactive Market Making (sPMM) algorithm using none other than flash loans.

The attacker executed a symphony of transactions, borrowing a hefty 7.7 million WOO tokens along with other assets. Then, they sold off the borrowed WOO tokens on the WOOFi platform.Their sPMM algorithm’s grossly misjudged the value of WOO tokens, practically pricing them at zilch. With this clever maneuver, the exploit artist smoothly swapped out a whopping 10 million WOO tokens at a fraction of the cost, repeating the process not once, not twice, but thrice!

Source: BitcoinInsider

OrdiZK bridge vanishes in alleged $1.4M rug pull: CertiK

As per CertiK, the team allegedly did a disappearing act (aka exit scam) and poof'ed with $1.4 million worth of investor cash!

Here's how it went down: on March 4th, they supposedly dumped a ton of OZK tokens on a crypto exchange, crashing the price by 98%. Then, the next day, they did it again, taking another $214,000 and sending the price plummeting another 99%.

Source: Cointelegraph

Event calendar (limited to next couple of days)

1. AI and Robnotix @noisebridge

   • March 06, 2024

   • 1900 hrs, San Francisco local time

2. AI meetup (at Github SF): AI, LLMs, and ML

   • March 06, 2024

   • 1700 hrs, San Francisco local time