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Source: AdobeStock / photo_gonzo The US-based crypto exchange Kraken is in hot water with regulators over an alleged violation of securities rules related to the selling of “unregistered securities.” The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) probe into whether Kraken did offer unregistered securities to US consumers is now at an “advanced stage,” Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, adding that the probe could lead to a settlement in “coming days.” The report was based on information from an unnamed source “with knowledge of the matter.” Kraken or its CEO Jesse Powell has so far not commented on the report. Unclear ramifications Despite the source saying a settlement could be imminent, it remains unclear which digital assets the probe relates to. So far, US regulators, including the SEC and the CFTC, have only declared Bitcoin to be a commodity, making the regulatory status of other digital assets unclear. Accord...

Source: Meta Meta , the company behind social media giant Facebook, continued to bleed money in relation to its virtual reality-focused Reality Labs business in the fourth quarter of 2022, posting an operating loss of some $4.28 billion. In total, the unit’s operating loss for 2022 totaled as much as $13.72 billion. Reality Labs reported a total income from operations of $6.4 billion for the fourth quarter of 2022, and $28.94 billion for the full year, as indicated by data from Meta’s financial report for the October-December 2022 period. At the same time, in spite of the negative financial performance of the virtual reality-focused unit, Facebook’s leadership remains determined to maintain the company’s investments in VR and artificial  intelligence (AI) technologies, according to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta and the social media platform’s co-founder. “I want to give some updates on our priority areas. Our priorities hav...

After a string of rapid interest rate increases throughout 2022, the Federal Reserve Board has implemented its smallest rate rise since March at a quarter of a percentage point. This decision for moderation was welcomed by markets, causing stocks and crypto markets to move up. With this backdrop, what are the best cryptos to buy today? CNBC reported that the 10-year Treasury yield has plummeted from 3.9% at the end of 2022 to 3.5% at the moment. This realization has injected liquidity into the crypto market, and consequently, Bitcoin traded over the $24,000 mark today for the first time in 24 weeks, with most other altcoins following and also trading in the green. In light of these positive developments in the financial markets, technical and fundamental Analysis suggests that MEMAG, OP, FGHT, SNX, and CCHG are among the best cryptos to buy today. Meta Masters Guild (MEMAG) Brings Community, Fun, and Ownership to Mobile Games Mobile gamers are about to experience...

RobotEra has become one of the brightest stars in the metaverse gaming space. With an impressive storyline and abundant ways to make gains, this game already has many in the market in a frenzy.  What Is RobotEra? RobotEra is a new metaverse gaming project. The platform, announced in 2022, is notable for bringing different Web3 concepts together – including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. These concepts have continued to get significant traction in the past few years, and RobotEra is combining them into the ultimate gaming system.  In RobotEra, players are portrayed as robots tasked with rebuilding a devastated world. The project is based on a backstory in which alien forces attack a planet, and the resulting conflict destroys it. The game's objective is for players to participate in this world-building and development. They can select avatars, with seven different robot factions to choose from, and then buy land and other property. All p...

Source: TradingView The Aptos price has jumped to $18.44 today, with the layer-one cryptocurrency rising by as much as 37% within the past 24 hours. Its current level also means that it has gained by 141% in a week and by 400% in the last 30 days, as Aptos looks set to become the biggest layer-one network in the cryptocurrency ecosystem after Ethereum and BNB Chain. Indeed, with Aptos exceeding Solana in terms of its fully diluted valuation, some observers have been declaring that the newer project has already begun "flipping" its older rival. However, with little underlying Aptos besides venture capital and a Facebook-related pedigree, it still has a long way to go before the utility it offers rivals those of bigger, more established chains. Aptos Price Prediction as APT Pumps Up 37% in 24 Hours – Is Aptos the New Solana? Based on its chart and indicators, APT is definitely enjoying a big breakout right now. Its 30-day moving average (red) has shot well a...

Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section Features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com. NFT Signals , the NFT trading signals service that has delivered more than $1 billion in total group profits to its members, has rebranded its website. In the space of five months, NFT Signals has come from nowhere to become the premier one-stop-shop for trading signals on flipping NFTs for a profit. And having amassed profit totalling $1,007,231,707, its new tagline – ‘The Ultimate NFT Alpha Group’ – is aptly named. Although the trading volume for NFTs has declined significantly from its heights, that hasn’t stopped NFT Signals’ band of pro traders from making money for its free-tier and VIP members. To date, NFT Signals has delivered a 42% return on investment for the group, with a high success rate of 93%. Partnerships with leading industry sites such as Premint.xyz , which allows bran...

On January 22, the second leading cryptocurrency, Ethereum, opened the day at $1,626.68. It has reached the maximum value of $1,635.64 and the lowest value of $1,609.35. ETH/USD is trading at $1,625.85, down by 0.84% in 24 hours. Moreover, the price has increased by almost 5% in a week. Raised Active Ethereum Addresses The number of Ethereum addresses with a balance greater than zero is steadily increasing. According to Glassnode data, Ethereum reached a new all-time high of 92.5 million addresses this week.  The number of unique addresses transferred as a recipient or sender is represented by active addresses. It only includes those who completed a transaction successfully.  Recently, there has been a significant increase in the number of active addresses on Ethereum. It indicates that Ethereum users are running programs on the network rather than simply holding them in their wallets.  As Ethereum network activity and usage reach new all-time highs, E...

Source: AdobeStock / ra2 studio Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news. __________ Exchange news Coinbase said it is ending its operations in Japan. Per an announcement, “due to market conditions, our company has made the difficult decision to halt operations in Japan and to conduct a complete review of our business in the country.” Customers will have until February 16 to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings. Investment news Digital Currency Group , the parent of the troubled crypto company Genesis Global , said it is suspending quarterly dividends to preserve cash, Bloomberg reported. The move comes as the group focuses on “strengthening our balance sheet by reducing operating expenses and preserving liquidity,” it said, citing a January 17 letter to shareholders. In order to survive crypto winter, crypto trading fi...

Dash 2 Trade (D2T), the closely followed crypto trading intelligence platform, is up 51% at $0.20 today as buyers snap up the token as product release rumors swirl. D2T listed on the Gate.io   LBank , Changelly Pro , BitMart and Uniswap exchanges last week after a successful presale that raised $15.42 million. The price bounced off strong support on Sunday 15th at the $0.13 level. Buyers are now hoovering up the token, partially on the back of the general recovery in crypto prices seen in the space, led by the rise of bitcoin. However, it is likely that project fundamentals are coming into play to guide buying decision making. Dash 2 Trade project fundamentals start to drive price action Dash 2 Trade, despite only listing last week, already has a beta of its dashboard in the hands of its growing community. Indeed, it was reported last week that there were 7,000 sign-ups to the open beta testing program. The beta showcases the presale section of the dashboard th...

Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section Features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com . Electric vehicle (EV) charging is notoriously complicated in comparison to getting fuel for a traditional fossil-fuel vehicle. There are no unified rules on the type of hardware or payment solutions that charging stations need to offer. This makes it more difficult than necessary for EV drivers to recharge. For example, while Tesla’s supercharger network is opening up to non-Tesla EVs, it is still very difficult for non-Tesla EV drivers to charge using this network due to continued hardware and payment solution barriers. Meanwhile, there doesn’t currently exist a framework where EV drivers can pay a charging station directly for its services without needing to go through a third-party intermediary. And there doesn’t currently exist a universal third-party subscription solution for EV charging station acce...

On January 12, Bitcoin (BTC), the world's largest cryptocurrency, is staying bullish as it's breaking above the $17,500 level. While Ethereum's (ETH) price is consolidating in a narrow range of $1,320 to $1,345 levels. whereas Ripple is on a bullish run, having surged over 5% to $0.3700. The initial market panic that followed Sam Bankman-FTX Fried's exchange's collapse in early November appears to be subsiding. For the first time since FTX went bankrupt, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Bitcoin posted for the next three months is fetching a premium above the prevailing spot market price.  The return on the premium suggests that institutional trading is shifting away from the short side. Midway through November, skilled traders put bearish bets to protect against a deeper FTX-induced collapse in the leading cryptocurrency, sending CME futures into a record discount.  In spite of this, Bitcoin has proven more stable than many anticipated over ...

Sam Bankman-Fried. Source: a video screenshot, Forbes / YouTube New revelations indicate that there were some close links between Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and some of his major backers. According to a new report by the Financial Times, Bankman-Fried invested $20 million in a fund managed by crypto venture capital firm Paradigm in late 2021. The same fund later invested in FTX and FTX US exchanges. “That’s just weird,” Charles Whitehead, a professor at Cornell Law School, reportedly said in a comment. He added that while there was “nothing inherently wrong” with such arrangements, “it raises your eyebrows”. Founded in 2018, Paradigm is a major venture capital firm that invests in cryptocurrency, financial services, information technology, media, telecommunication, SaaS, and web3 sectors. A spokesperson for the San Francisco-based company has allegedly claimed ...

Image source: Reuters The US Department of Justice has retained control of the contested 56 million shares of Robinhood, a popular financial trading app, worth approximately $500 million.  In a January 6 court filing, the DOJ notified the court handling the bankruptcy of BlockFi that it has seized 55,273,469 shares of Robinhood, worth more than $450 million at the time of publication. The shares had been held at an account at brokerage firm ED&F Man. The "seized Assets constitute property involved in violations" of money laundering and could have been proceeds of violations of wire fraud, the DOJ said.  The shares are owned by Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX co-founder Gary Wang through a holding company called Emergent Fidelity Technologies and were purchased with a loan from his own hedge fund, Alameda Research.  Last week, Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of crypto exchange FTX, filed a court action asking to block debtors from taking co...

Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section Features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com . Blockchain Technology is Revolutionizing Gaming Blockchain technology is causing massive disruption in the gaming space. For the first time and as a direct result of the blockchain, games can be built with transparent, trustworthy and decentralized economies. These so-called “crypto games”, a dynamic new niche within the gaming space, are making waves, given that many offer normal, non-professional players a viable way to generate income. According to a recent survey of game developers commissioned by blockchain entertainment firm Coda Labs, 75% of developers expect to work on web3 projects in the future and more than half think that web3 will revolutionize the gaming industry. The CEO of Coda Labs commented that the survey “shows that a majority of developers have already dipped their toes into...

Given the market slowdown, the XRP price prediction remains bearish as it struggles below the $0.3715 level. Despite occasional setbacks, like the bankruptcies and arrests of some of its previous major players, several governments are eager to join the crypto bandwagon and are considering the formation of national stablecoins. Republic of Palau President Surangel S. Whipps Jr. informed Bloomberg's Joanna Ossinger in September that the country's IT staff was actively working with blockchain company Ripple Labs to explore the prospect of developing a "national stablecoin." As a result, it is exerting bearish pressure on XRP, causing its price to fall. XRP Price Prediction The XRP/USD pair is currently trading at $0.3560 with a small bearish bias. The XRP/USD has been struggling under the $0.3715 level, and candle closings below this level have triggered a bearish movement. XRP is currently trading sharply lower near the 0.3576 level. A break below th...