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Solana led gainers in the top 10 cryptos, after the protocol announced a new partnership with payments giant Visa. Bitcoin and Ether were little changed, even as Bitcoin whales have been steadily accumulating the asset since Aug. 25, market experts told Forkast.

See related article: Weekly Market Wrap: Grayscales favorable court verdict, ETF hype fail to lift Bitcoin above US$28,000

Solanas SOL token was the days biggest gainer in the top 10 cryptocurrencies, rising 2.38% in the past 24 hours to US$19.81. SOL started gaining yesterday after the protocol announced a partnership with Visa. The payments giant will be using the Solana blockchain as a settlement layer in its pilot program for enterprise-grade throughput at virtually no cost for Visa issuers and merchants.

Adding to the blockchains utility, Visa also announced that two additional merchants, Worldpay Global and Nuvei, will be piloting USDC settlement payments on Solana.

In the wider crypto market, Bitcoin was little changed during afternoon trading in Asia, trading at US$25,735 as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong.

Despite Bitcoins sluggish price action, large holders, also known as whales, have been steadily accumulating Bitcoin since Aug. 25, according to Mike Ermolaev, founder of blockchain PR firm Outset PR and the author of the interview series Crypto Opinion with Mike Ermolaev.

Institutional investors who have deep pockets and the ability to hold Bitcoin long-term are key to supporting Bitcoins growth. Positive regulatory developments coupled with the upcoming halving event of Bitcoin in 2024 have the potential to lead to a strong price increase for Bitcoin, wrote Ermolaev, referencing the below chart.

As for the worlds second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether slipped 0.12% during afternoon trading in Asia to US$1,629 and declined 5.06% during the past week.

The total crypto market capitalization over the past 24 hours rose 0.15% to US$1.04 trillion while market volume increased 0.04% to US$24.14 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The Forkast 500 NFT index rose 0.26% to 2,176.81 points in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong but fell 0.78% during the week.

Following yesterdays 400% sales surge for the Bored Ape Yacht Club, 24-hour sales for its twin collection, the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, rose 213% to US$762,915, making it the third-largest NFT collection across all blockchains by 24-hour sales volume.

Boosted by the collection, Ethereums 24-hour non-fungible token (NFT) sales rose 32.74% to US$6.62 million. Sales for Milady Maker strengthened 596% to US$287,012.

Mythos Chain remained the second largest blockchain by 24-hour sales volume, despite sales falling 6% in the past 24 hours to US$1.15 million. Sales for the DMarket collection fell 6.38% to US$1.13 million, remaining the second-largest NFT collection by daily sales volume.

In the wider NFT space, tokenized real estate platform Roofstock OnChain successfully completed its third property sales through its NFT marketplace, with a property in South Carolina sold for US$204,000 worth of USDC, marking another milestone for tokenized assets.

Most major Asian equities Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index, the Shanghai Composite and Japans Nikkei 225 rose as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, except the Shenzhen Component.

Chinas yuan fell to a 10-month low against the U.S. dollar, before the Peoples Bank of China stepped in, offering support for the yuan to prevent a further price fall. Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that major state-owned banks were actively selling U.S. dollars onshore in early trading, while mopping up yuan liquidity, to slow the yuans decline.

Major U.S. stock futures Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, the S&P 500 futures index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 futures fell on Wednesday.

The declines followed hawkish comments from Fed Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester, who said that the central bank may need to raise rates a bit higher, but did not mention what officials should do at the next interest rate meeting that is scheduled for Sept. 19-20.

Over in Europe, the benchmark STOXX 600 fell 0.63% while Frankfurts DAX 40 fell 0.34%, following hawkish remarks from European Central Bank official Klaas Knot, who cautioned that traders betting against an interest rate increase next week might be underestimating its likelihood. Klaas also emphasized that achieving the central banks 2% inflation target by the end of 2025 should be the minimum commitment for policymakers.

Adding to investor concerns, German industrial orders fell 11.7% in July, surpassing the expected 4.3% decline, according to the federal statistics office. This marks the steepest drop since the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak in April 2020.

See related article: Grayscale wins against SEC as India moves on blockchain; Friend.tech loses friends

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Solana leads gains following Visa partnership news, Bitcoin little changed even as whales snap up asset - Forkast News

09/06 update below. This post was originally published on September 5

BitcoinBTC, ethereum, XRPXRP and other major cryptocurrencies could be headed into one of their biggest-ever months that one crypto watcher has said will be "crazy."

Subscribe now to Forbes' CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor and successfully navigate the bitcoin and crypto market rollercoaster

The bitcoin price has crashed after a summer rally, falling back even as a China earthquake appears on the horizon, with the price of other major cryptocurrencies including ethereum and XRP, also falling back after a "black swan" failed to materialize.

Now, former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Jay Clayton has said eventual approval of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is "inevitable" following the SEC punting a decision on ETF filings from asset managers who look after a combined $15 trillion until October.

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"It is clear that bitcoin is not a security. It is clear that bitcoin is something that retail investors want access to, institutional investors want access to, and, importantly, some of our most trusted providers who are fiduciaries or have duties of best interest want to provide this product to the retail public. So I think [...] an approval is inevitable," Clayton told CNBC. "The dichotomy between a futures product and cash product can't go on forever."

The SEC approved a bitcoin futures ETF in 2021, with the bitcoin, ethereum, XRP and crypto market peaking at just over $3 trillion when the first fund launched.

Last week, the SEC said it needs more time to decide on the recent flurry of spot bitcoin ETF applications, pushing back decisions on filings from BlackRockBLK, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Wise Origin, VanEck, Bitwise and Valkyrie Digital Assets at least mid-October.

Spot bitcoin ETF hype had built among traders ahead last week's decisions following crypto asset manager Greyscale's legal victory over the SEC in which a court ruled some of the regulator's arguments in rejecting spot bitcoin ETF applications seemed "arbitrary and capricious," forcing the SEC to reexamine Greyscales proposal to convert its flagship GBTC fund to a fully-fledged spot bitcoin ETF.

The odds of a spot bitcoin ETF approval by the end of 2023 were raised from 65% to 75% by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts in the aftermath of Grayscale's victory.

09/06 update: Grayscale has called on the SEC to approve the proposed conversion of its bitcoin trust to a fully-fledged spot bitcoin ETF following its legal victory.

"Now that the Court of Appeals has spoken, there is no available rationale that would distinguish a bitcoin futures [exchange-traded product] from a spot bitcoin ETP under the legal analysis previously adopted by the Commission in rejecting spot bitcoin ETPs," Joseph Hall, a lawyer at Davis Polk representing Grayscale, said in a letter filed with the regulator.

"We hope you will agree that the best use of resources now is for the [SEC] to issue an order approving" the product, Hall wrote, arguing the approval of a futures bitcoin ETF with a market surveillance arrangement via the Chicago Mercantile Exchange should be sufficient for a spot bitcoin ETF. "If any other reason could be offered in attempting to differentiate" the two types of products "we are confident that it would have surfaced by now."

The SEC will have no choice but to approve the spot bitcoin ETF applications following Grayscales victory in its case against the SEC, according a note written by JPMorgan analysts seen by The Block.

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To defend its denial of Grayscales proposal of converting its bitcoin trust into an ETF, the SEC would have to retroactively withdraw its previous approval of futures-based bitcoin ETFssomething that would be "very disruptive and embarrassing for the SEC," JPMorgan's analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote.

Meanwhile, Bernstein analysts have said a spot bitcoin ETF approval could be quickly followed by an ethereum fund due to its similar market structure.

"The crypto ETF opportunity wont stop at just bitcoin (BTC), but will extend into multiple crypto assets," Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote in a note seen by Coindesk.

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends, and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for CityAM, the Financial Times, and the New Statesman, amongst others. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me on billyATbillybambrough.com.Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

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Approval Is InevitableSEC Insider Primes Crypto Market For $15 Trillion Bitcoin, Ethereum And XRP Price ETF Game-Changer - Forbes

LOS ANGELES A Santa Monica man has agreed to plead guilty to breaking federal law by allowing his cryptocurrency-cash exchange company to help scammers and drug traffickers launder millions of dollars in criminal proceeds through his business, the Justice Department announced today.

Charles James Randol, 33, agreed to plead guilty to a single-count information charging him with failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program, a crime that carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

Both the information and plea agreement were filed today in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Randol is expected to formally plead guilty to the charge in the coming weeks.

According to his plea agreement, from October 2017 to July 2021, Randol owned and operated a virtual-currency money services business that eventually was known as Digital Coin Strategies LLC. This company offered cryptocurrency-cash exchange services for a commission.

Randol offered his cryptocurrency exchange services in various ways, including meeting anonymous customers in-person to complete transactions, controlling and operating a network of automated kiosks in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties that converted cash to Bitcoin and vice versa, and conducting Bitcoin-for-cash transactions for unknown individuals who mailed large amounts of U.S. currency to him, including to post office boxes that he controlled.

Randol advertised his business on various websites, and he maintained a company website that falsely claimed his business was a fully compliantmoney services business that was registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the United States Treasury Department. In fact, as Randol admitted in his plea agreement, he repeatedly violated federal law and his companys own AML policies by facilitating suspicious currency exchange transactions and taking steps to conceal them from law enforcement, including by failing to file required currency transaction reports and suspicious activity reports.

For example, Randol frequently conducted in-person cash transactions that exceeded $10,000 with anonymous or pseudo-anonymous individuals, including people who Randol knew only as Puppet Shariff, White Jetta, Aaavvv, Aaaa, Yogurt Monster, and Hood. In his plea agreement, Randol admitted to engaging in three specific transactions from October 2020 to January 2021 in which he exchanged a total of $273,940 in cash for Bitcoin without requesting a name, proof of identity, Social Security number, or any other information about the buyer or the source of the funds being exchanged. Such transactions violated the Bank Secrecy Act and his companys AML policy, which required, among other things, that he verify the identity of customers engaging in transactions over $9,999 by obtaining the customers full name, address, Social Security number, a verified phone number, and a photocopy of the customers official government identification.

While operating his crypto-exchange business, Randol also conducted hundreds of Bitcoin-for-cash transactions after receiving large cash shipments in the mail from anonymous individuals. In a typical transaction, an anonymous individual would text Randol using an encrypted platform to notify him that a parcel containing cash had been sent to a location that Randol controlled in or around Los Angeles. Once Randol received the parcel, he would count the money and send an equivalent amount of Bitcoin minus a commission to a digital wallet controlled by his customers. As with in-person transactions, Randol did not conduct any due diligence on the people mailing him large sums of cash, the source of funds being exchanged, or the purpose of the transaction.

When Randol received the packages, the cash was often packaged in a suspicious manner, including cash hidden inside childrens books, concealed inside fake birthday or holiday presents, buried within puzzle pieces, or wrapped within multiple magazines.

On June 5, 2019, FBI agents interviewed Randol about fraud proceeds that had been mailed to post office boxes he controlled. Two days later, Randol texted a customer stating that he would be taking a hiatus from converting cash parcels into cryptocurrency because he ran into an issue with [law enforcement]. But less than a week later, Randol resumed his cash parcels activity after that same anonymous customer asked Randol if he could exchange $10,000 in cash for Bitcoin.

Randol admitted that his failure to comply with Bank Secrecy Act requirements, including maintaining an effective AML program resulted in criminals using Randols business to launder millions of dollars of criminal proceeds. For example, between June 2018 and early 2020, Randol exchanged Bitcoin for cash that was mailed to him by a New Jersey resident who had been tricked into believing his grandson was facing criminal prosecution after purportedly killing an elderly woman in a traffic accident and that the money the victim was sending would be used to help the victims grandson with his legal problems. Based on these lies, the victim drained his savings and retirement accounts. While Randol did not participate in the fraud, his business converted the victims cash to cryptocurrency and sent it to various digital wallets without conducting any customer due diligence or investigating the source of the money he was receiving.

Because to Randols deficient AML practices, criminals were also able to structure and launder funds through his Bitcoin kiosks. Specifically, Randol operated numerous Bitcoin kiosks, which were in malls, gas stations, and convenience stores in cities such as Los Angeles, Glendale, Santa Clarita, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, and Riverside.

But the setting on Randols kiosks allowed customers to structure funds to avoid currency reporting requirements by creating numerous accounts and by engaging in successive transactions involving up to $3,000. He also set up one or more test accounts that contained no customer information, which he allowed customers to use to complete kiosk transactions.

In September 2020, Randol hired a compliance officer for Digital Coin Strategies. Randol ignored this individuals advice to cease any use of test accounts for customer transactions on Bitcoin kiosks. Randol also continued to conduct in-person transactions, despite his compliance officers warning that doing so increased the risk that the cash or Bitcoin Randol was receiving was derived from an unlawful source.

The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations investigated this matter, with assistance from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

Assistant United States Attorneys Ian V. Yanniello of the General Crimes Section and James E. Dochterman of the Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Section are prosecuting this case.

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Bitcoin-for-Cash Exchange Business Owner Agrees to Plead Guilty ... - Department of Justice

Earn a free on-chain certificate by taking Decrypt U's free course, Bitcoins price is ultimately influenced by human emotion, and the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index is a measure of this investor sentiment. Here, we find out why the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index can be an important market tool.

In an ideal world, Bitcoins price would always reflect its underlying or intrinsic value. In reality, and in the same way as other as other assets, Bitcoins price is significantly driven by how investors feel about the market and, ultimately, how investors act in response to their emotions.

Sentiment trends like investor fear or investor greed (equal to bearish or bullish markets, respectively) can push Bitcoin price above or below expectations of value.

You can find the index here.

CNN developed the first Fear and Greed Index in 2011 as a tool for stock market investors. The concept has since been adopted for cryptocurrency. Its now a useful metric for Bitcoin investors and traders looking for a snapshot of market feeling to aid their decision-making.

The Index itself is a scale from 0 to 100. A value of 1 shows investor sentiment is extreme fear. This would be a strong bearish market, indicating Bitcoin owners are selling their assets. In contrast, the scale at 100 dictates extreme greed, where investors and traders are enthusiastically buying.

The Index rating draws from a number of factors, such as Bitcoin volatility, Bitcoin whale activity, trading volume, Bitcoin market dominance, social media and wider media sentiment, and also search engine data.

Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index curators often categorize the numeric values of the scale using the following structure, but some have a fifth, neutral level of sentiment sitting in between fear and greed.

Iterations of the Index can be found at alternative.me, LookIntoBitcoin.com, BitDegree.org, and CoinStats.app with rating history data available as far back as 2018.

The Index can be used to make buying and selling decisions. Some investors might join the trend du jour and follow the market, selling when there is fear and buying when there is greed.

Primarily, the Index is used to reveal the opportunity in the market. Traders can buy Bitcoin when fearful investors sell at a low price and later sell for a much higher price when the Index denotes greed, or high demand.

The volatility of Bitcoin and its alignment with the wider crypto market make the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index especially useful as a quick gauge.

Fear in the market occurs when Bitcoin owners are doubtful about their investments. For example, if new regulation threatens to stifle the market or an exchange hack results in investor losses.

Greed in the market demonstrates confidence in Bitcoin, and this could be as an asset class or indicate broader confidence in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. When Elon Musk revealed Teslas investment in Bitcoin in February 2021, the Index rocketed to a rating of 92. Conversely, the lowest Index rating to date occurred in March 2020 as COVID-19 fuelled panic spread through conventional and emerging financial markets.

The short answer is no, at least not alone. The Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index is a useful indicator of the emotion driving market sentiment toward Bitcoin in the short term, and it has its limitations.

As weve seen, there are a number of Bitcoin fear and greed indexes published by different organizations. There is often little depth to the transparency of how the index ratings are calculated. Whats more, the factors that contribute to the ratings are difficult to quantify, they are subjective in nature. This contrasts with CNNs stock market Fear and Greed Index, which is based on calculable deviations from the average for metrics of market momentum, stock price strength, stock price breadth, put and call options, junk bond demand, market volatility, and safe haven demand.

Lastly, although some Bitcoin fear and greed indexes are updated up to twice per day, Bitcoins price history tells us that substantial market volatility can occur in a few hours or less.

A Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index is an excellent tool for confirming Bitcoin market sentiment, but its best use is in conjunction with other tools, research, and due diligence.

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What is the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index? - Decrypt