Bitcoin rally significantly benefits online-only Kbank in Korea

Bitcoin Miners Likely Selling at $28K Level, Says MatrixportAccording to a report by Singapore-headquartered digital asset financial services provider Matrixport, Bitcoin (BTC) is facing selling pressure at the $28,000 price level, possibly due to miners offloading their newly mined coins.The report, cited by CoinDesk on Friday, suggests that miners are being compelled to liquidate their inventory as profit margins have contracted in recent weeks.Photo by Pixabay on PexelsHashrate all-time highMining has become an intensely competitive and often unprofitable endeavor due to the ongoing rise in Bitcoin miner difficulty. The hashrate, or measure of how easily miners can discover a new block of Bitcoin reached an all-time high earlier this week. Markus Thielen, Head of Research at Matrixport, noted that given the current input cost and potential revenue expectations, most machines produced before 2022 appear to be unprofitable.“At the current input cost and potential output revenue expectations, most of the machines produced before 2022 appear to be unprofitable,” Thielen wrote.Forced sellingConsequently, miners are forced to sell their inventory at the current level rather than holding out for higher prices, which Matrixport anticipates. The report highlights the significant upside potential for miners if Bitcoin prices were to increase by 10% or more, as profitability could quadruple.The narrowing profit margins for miners reflect the challenges they face in a highly competitive market. As mining difficulty continues to rise, miners must allocate more resources and computing power to mine new coins, reducing their profitability. The situation is particularly tough for miners operating older machines, which are less efficient and more costly to run.The selling pressure exerted by miners can have a short-term impact on Bitcoin’s price. However, Matrixport’s analysis suggests that if Bitcoin experiences a notable price increase, miners could see a substantial improvement in their profitability. This potential upside convexity creates an incentive for miners to continue their operations and withstand the current market conditions.Ordinals bring increased feesOn the other hand one recent development that is assisting miners is the increase in transaction fees, with the development of Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens over the course of the past six months. That interest seems to be ongoing, and if anything we’re likely to see further development of tokens running on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. On Thursday, Seychelles-based crypto trading platform OKX proposed a new BRC-30 token standard which would enable staking of those tokens, alongside staking of bitcoin.Singapore-based Matrixport is a portfolio company of crypto investment venture capital firm Foresight Ventures, which is also headquartered in Singapore. The firm provides a suite of products that it is positioning to be innovative and easy to use, offering an all-in-one crypto financial services platform, enabling users to earn, invest, loan, and trade digital assets.The Matrixport report indicates that miners are likely selling their Bitcoin at the $28,000 level due to squeezed profit margins. While this selling pressure may affect short-term price dynamics, the potential for increased profitability if Bitcoin prices rise significantly provides miners with an optimistic outlook for the future.

LINE Xenesis and Crypto.com Unite Efforts to Explore Global Blockchain Business OpportunitiesLINE Xenesis, a blockchain developer of Tokyo-based messaging app giant LINE Corporation, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com to explore new global business opportunities in the blockchain industry.With the establishment of LINE Blockchain Lab in April 2018, LINE Corporation has conducted research and development on blockchain-based decentralized applications (dApps), peer-to-peer networking systems, and cryptographic techniques. Thanks to this endeavor, LINE not only developed the Finschia blockchain and its native token FNSA, but also launched crypto exchange LINE Bitmax and non-fungible token marketplace LINE NFT.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashSynergistic goalsThrough this partnership, the two entities will bring together their respective expertise to advance and innovate crypto-related business solutions in Asia and beyond. They will collaborate to increase the liquidity of LINE Bitmax, strengthen crypto payment functions, and promote NFT initiatives.Founded in 2016, Crypto.com has been expanding its services worldwide. In a recent interview, Patrick Yoon, General Manager of Crypto.com Korea, shared the company’s plan to launch its services in South Korea this year. Thus far, Crypto.com has achieved virtual asset service provider registration from the Bank of Spain and secured a major payment institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Meanwhile, despite global progress, the company ceased its institutional offering in the United States last month due to insufficient demand.Asia and beyondCommenting on this agreement, LINE Xenesis CEO Lim Inkyu said, “LINE Xenesis is exploring various ways to collaborate with the world’s leading companies in the virtual asset industry. We are excited to see the synergies created by our partnership with Crypto.com, which has more than 80 million enthusiastic users worldwide, with LINE Xenesis’ blockchain business in Japan. Starting with this collaboration in the Japanese market, we hope to work towards new business opportunities globally based on the technology and knowledge of our two companies.”Crypto.com CEO Eric Anziani echoed this sentiment, saying, “We are excited to partner with such an established and innovative brand in the APAC market and a leader in blockchain technology development in Japan. Enabling real-world utility is critical to our mission of mainstreaming crypto. Through our collaboration with LINE Xenesis, we will facilitate this utility by leveraging our respective expertise with a highly tech savvy base throughout the APAC region.”

Coins.ph Suffers 12M XRP ExploitCoins.ph, a leading cryptocurrency exchange in the Philippines, is grappling with the alleged loss of over 12 million XRP tokens, valued at $6 million, in a purported exploit.That’s according to various reports that have been emerging from the Philippines in recent days. The incident not only spotlights serious questions about the security protocols and regulatory oversight of crypto exchanges in the Philippines but it also sparked fears of an impact on market sentiment relative to the XRP unit price.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashHacker used various platformsThe reports revealed that an exploit targeted Coins.ph, resulting in the unauthorized transfer and exchange of 12 million XRP tokens in a mere 30 minutes. The hacker behind this incident managed to navigate through various platforms, including OKX, WhiteBIT, OrbitBridge, SimpleSwap, ChangeNOW, and Fixed Float, leaving users and investors alarmed.Coins.ph’s wallet, the focal point of the exploit, has a connection to BitGo, a California-based crypto custody firm, which initiated its activation back in 2018. At present, neither Coins.ph nor BitGo has issued any official statements regarding this reported breach.The alleged exploit brings to the forefront once again, the importance of robust security protocols and regulatory oversight within the cryptocurrency industry in the Philippines and elsewhere. Coins.ph is a major player in the crypto sector in the Southeast Asian country, having more than 10 million users.The hacker responsible for the exploit attempted to execute several transactions, trading nearly 13 million XRP tokens, with one transaction seemingly failing to go through. Following the successful acquisition of approximately 12.2 million XRP tokens, the hacker swiftly moved these assets to different exchanges.Responding to the incident, some platforms promptly blocked or marked the stolen XRP tokens and sought assistance from blockchain analysis firms such as Cristal and Chainalysis. This exploit is being deemed as one of the most substantial thefts of XRP tokens in recent history.It’s understood that WhiteBIT blocked the movement of some of the XRP that has been implicated in the hack. WhiteBIT told The Block: “WhiteBIT, as soon as received a request from the Philippines-based exchange Coins, promptly reacted and blocked 445,000 Ripple.”XRP impactXRP, the native cryptocurrency of the Ripple network, which primarily focuses on facilitating cross-border payments, has been grappling with its price stability in recent times. This has been largely due to the ongoing legal disputes between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over allegations of conducting unregistered securities offerings.While it had been speculated initially that the hack would have impacted the XRP unit price, XRP seems to have held up well. At the time of writing, it was trading at $0.526. There has been an overall uplift in the crypto market as a whole over the course of the past 24 hours which may be a contributing factor, with digital asset market cap being up 2.7%.As the crypto community waits for official responses from Coins.ph and BitGo, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of safeguarding digital assets and enhancing regulatory oversight in an industry that continues to evolve and expand.