Ernst & Young taps ZK-proofs on Ethereum to automate contracts

April 18, 2024 Coin Telegraph

ChatGPT can’t beat human smart contract auditors yet: OpenZeppelin’s Ethernaut challenges

June 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

audit

While ChatGPT-4 can’t compete with human auditors yet, OpenZeppelin noted it was not optimized to do so, and AI models trained for this purpose would likely be more accurate.

While generative artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of doing a vast variety of tasks, OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 is currently unable to audit smart contracts as effectively as human auditors, according to recent testing.

In an effort to determine whether AI tools could replace human auditors, blockchain security firm OpenZeppelin’s Mariko Wakabayashi and Felix Wegener pitted ChatGPT-4 against the firm’s Ethernaut security challenge.

Although the AI model passed a majority of the levels, it struggled with newer ones introduced after its September 2021 training data cutoff date, as the plugin enabling web connectivity was not included in the test.

Ethernaut is a wargame played within the Ethereum Virtual Machine consisting of 28 smart contracts — or levels — to be hacked. In other words, levels are completed once the correct exploit is found.

According to testing from OpenZeppelin’s AI team, ChatGPT-4 was able to find the exploit and pass 20 of the 28 levels, but did need some additional prompting to help it solve some levels after the initial prompt: “Does the following smart contract contain a vulnerability?”

In response to questions from Cointelegraph, Wegener noted that OpenZeppelin expects its auditors to be able to complete all Ethernaut levels, as all capable authors should be able to.

While Wakabayashi and Wegener concluded that ChatGPT-4 is currently unable to replace human auditors, they highlighted that it can still be used as a tool to boost the efficiency of smart contract auditors and detect security vulnerabilities, noting:

“To the community of Web3 BUIDLers, we have a word of comfort — your job is safe! If you know what you are doing, AI can be leveraged to improve your efficiency.“

When asked whether a tool that increases the efficiency of human auditors would mean firms like OpenZeppelin would not need as many, Wegener told Cointelegraph that the total demand for audits exceeds the capacity to provide high-quality audits, and they expect the number of people employed as auditors in Web3 to continue growing.

In a May 31 Twitter thread, Wakabayashi said that large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are not yet ready for smart contract security auditing, as it is a task that requires a considerable degree of precision, and LLMs are optimized to generate text and have human-like conversations.

Because LLMs try to predict the most probable outcome every time, the output isn't consistent.

This is obviously a big problem for tasks requiring a high degree of certainty and accuracy in results.
— Mariko (@mwkby) May 31, 2023

However, Wakabayashi suggested that an AI model trained using tailored data and output goals could provide more reliable solutions than chatbots currently available to the public trained on large amounts of data.

What does this mean for AI in web3 security?

If we train an AI model with more targeted vulnerability data and specific output goals, we can build more accurate and reliable solutions than powerful LLMs trained on vast amounts of data.
— Mariko (@mwkby) May 31, 2023

AI Eye: 25K traders bet on ChatGPT’s stock picks, AI sucks at dice throws, and more

Multiple US state regulators allege AI trading DApp is a Ponzi scheme

April 5, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Alabama

The scheme allegedly claimed it could generate returns of up to 2.2% a day by leveraging AI to trade more often and with higher profits than a person could.

Securities regulators from Montana, Texas, and Alabama have jointly filed enforcement actions against cryptocurrency trading platform YieldTrust.ai, alleging it is “perpetrating a Ponzi scheme.”

According to April 4 statements from the Montanan, Texan and Alabamian regulators, YieldTrust.ai and its Romanian owner, Stefan Ciopraga, claimed the decentralized application (DApp) called “YieldBot” is “powered by cutting-edge artificial intelligence” and is “capable of executing 70 times more trades with 25 times higher profits than any human trader could.”

The regulators alleged YieldTrust didn’t provide “any proof” to investors that the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered bot exists, “let alone that it is performing at the level YieldTrust.ai claims.”

Montana’s regulator stated in its cease and desist order that YieldBot was developed for Binance’s BNB Smart Chain and could interface with staking programs to generate returns for new investors of up to 2.2% per day through:

“[Analyzing] the crypto markets and – in milliseconds – make its own trading decisions, autonomously choosing from hundreds of trading methods and chaining them together to create unique strategies – achieving an exhilarating performance.”

However, the state regulators claimed an independent firm that conducted an audit of YieldBot’s smart contract found it was “dangerous,” as “the deploying team retained sufficient control to block users from withdrawing their assets.”

As noted by the regulator's statements and highlighted in an April 4 tweet from Montana’s securities commissioner, Troy Downing, scammers are apparently capitalizing on the hype surrounding AI “by developing high-tech ploys to deceive investors.”

Artificial intelligence may be an exciting concept, but scammers are attempting to capitalize on the excitement by developing high-tech ploys to deceive investors.#AI #SecuritiesFraud #InvestmentScam #MTNews https://t.co/FMSqLJW40E
— Commissioner Troy Downing (@DowningCSIMT) April 4, 2023

An order from Montana’s regulator demands YieldTrust.ai cease and desist all activity in the state and seeks a total of $100,000 in fines while the Texas State Securities Board issued multiple cease and desist orders.

After the audit of its smart contract was published, YieldTrust.ai allegedly announced it would cease operations, which appears to be verified by the lack of trading activity according to DappRadar data.

*Activity on YieldTrust.ai’s dApp from Feb. 1 to April 5. Source:* *DappRadar*

However, the regulator’s orders accuse YieldTrust.ai of “raising capital from the public to cover withdrawals from prior investors,” which, alongside the promise of high returns, are the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme.

YieldTrust.ai’s website has been taken offline and its Twitter account deleted. Cointelegraph was unable to contact YieldTrust.ai or Ciopraga for comment.

AI has become far more prominent, accessible and surrounded by hype since the release of the ChatGPT AI chatbot on Nov. 30 by AI research company OpenAI.

Despite its inaccuracy at times, ChatGPT has proved to be a powerful tool, with the latest version capable of passing the bar, acing SATs and even identifying exploits in smart contracts.

Hodler’s Digest: FTX EU opens withdrawal, Elon Musk calls for AI halt, and Binance news

Euler Finance hacked despite 10 audits in 2 years, says CEO

March 17, 2023 Coin Telegraph

audit

Euler Labs CEO Michael Bentley stated he will “never forgive” the hacker as the exploit caused him to lose time with his newborn son.

Ten separate audits conducted over a two-year period of the Ethereum-based lending protocol Euler Finance deemed it to be “nothing higher than low risk” and having “no outstanding issues” prior to it suffering from a $196 million attack.

In a series of tweets on March 17 Euler Labs CEO, Michael Bentley described the “hardest days” of his life after Euler’s $196 million flash loan attack on March 13.

He retweeted one user sharing information that Euler had 10 audits from 6 different firms, and commented that the platform “has always been a security-minded project.”

Euler has always been a security-minded project. The Euler smart contracts, including the vulnerable lines of code, were audited.https://t.co/SvNeoKEGuY
— Michael Bentley (@euler_mab) March 16, 2023

Blockchain security firms including Halborn, Solidified, ZK Labs, Certora, Sherlock and Omnisica conducted smart contract audits on Euler Finance from May 2021 to September 2022.

Halborn ranked its risk assessment by measuring the “likelihood of a security incident” and the impact it may have, with the risk level ranging from very low and informational, to critical — Euler received “nothing higher than low risk.”

It was revealed in a Dec. 2022 summary of Halborn’s audit that it had found “an overall satisfactory result.”

The summary stated 23 smart contracts were “inspected and analyzed” by Halborn over a one-month period, of which only “two low risks and three informational” risks were identified.

Euler stated it had reviewed Halborn’s coverage and concluded the risks “pose no significant threats.”

Blockchain security firm Omnisica addressed some “incorrect paradigms” in Euler’s base swapper implementation, as well as how the swap mode was “handled by the codebase” — but stated in the report that these issues were “properly dealt” with by Euler, and “no outstanding issues” remained.

On March 16 the protocol’s hacker began moving funds through crypto mixer Tornado Cash only hours after a $1 million bounty was launched by Euler for information leading to the hacker’s arrest.

In his recent Twitter thread Bentley said he’ll never “forgive the attacker” as he was forced to “sacrifice time” with his newborn son due to the attack but thanked security experts who are “working on leads” for the investigation.

Only 24 hours prior to the bounty, Euler issued a warning saying it would launch a one “that leads to your arrest and the return of all funds” if 90% wasn’t returned within 24 hours.

‘There will be many more zeros’ — Kevin O’Leary on FTX-like collapses to come

January 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

audit

The Shark Tank star said all unregulated exchanges are seeing “massive outflows” right now, and rightly so.

Unregulated crypto exchanges will continue to fall like dominoes post-FTX, with plenty more “meltdowns” to come, warns Shark Tank star and investor Kevin O’Leary.

O’Leary, a former spokesperson and proponent for the now-bankrupt FTX exchange, told Kitco anchor David Lin in a Jan. 17 interview that the collapse was just one in a long line of “unregulated exchanges” likely to fail:

“If you’re asking me if there’s going to be another meltdown to zero? Absolutely. 100% it’ll happen, and it’ll keep happening over, and over and over again.”

Unregulated exchanges are those that aren't subject to regular auditing, aren’t registered and regulated by a securities commission, and don’t operate under rules similar to traditional stock exchanges and brokerages.

“Well, all of these exchanges, all the unregulated exchanges are having massive outflows right now. Smart money has got the joke. They saw what happened at FTX and they’re not sitting around for an explanation,” he said.

Kevin O’Leary interview with Kitco News. Source: YouTube

The Shark Tank star then made a stark warning to so-called “unregulated” crypto exchanges.

“If you're not willing to be audited, [...] you don't have an audit, you don't want to be transparent, you don't want to disclose ownership, why should institutional capital stay? Of course, it's not going to.”

The collapse of FTX in November prompted fierce calls from the community for greater transparency from crypto exchanges. Within weeks, five centralized exchanges completed their proof-of-reserve audits, while plenty more announced plans to do the same.

However, some observers, including a senior official from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), warned that proof of reserves don’t paint a true picture of a company’s financial position and asked investors to be “very wary” of the claims being made.

Some of the auditors, such as Mazars have seemingly back-flipped on their support for crypto companies. In December, the company removed its audit for crypto exchange Binance and reportedly stopped doing proof-of-reserve audits for crypto companies altogether.

Other auditing firms such as FTX’s auditor Armanino have also reportedly stopped working with crypto exchanges like OKX and Gate.io. O'Leary commented:

“Frankly, you know, it's very hard to find an auditor that wants to touch this stuff right now because of the unregulated cowboy environment. It's all going to end and yes, there’ll be many more zeros.”

Earlier this month, O’Leary’s fellow Shark Tank host Mark Cuban told The Street that crypto wash trading on centralized exchanges will be the cause of the next crypto “implosion.”

As much as 70% of the volume on unregulated exchanges is wash trading according to a December report by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Despite the noise, O’Leary says he’s doubling down on his crypto investments, particularly in Bitcoin (BTC).

“I have been going back into crypto markets lately. Any time Bitcoin drops below $17,000 I add to our positions there.”

“Crypto is getting very interesting because we’re finally starting to see the bearer of regulation coming into play and I think long-term that’s a good thing,” he added.

USDC transfer volume hit 5X USDT’s in fallout from FTX collapse

January 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

accounting

Although it has a much smaller market cap, on-chain data shows that USDC has a much greater transfer volume compared to its main competitor USDT.

Stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) has grown in popularity since the collapse of FTX and now frequently reaches daily transfer volumes four to five times that recorded by major competitor Tether (USDT) according to data from blockchain analytics firm Glassnode.

That’s despite the market cap of USDT being $23 billion greater than USDC. As of Jan. 10, the difference was in USDC’s favor by a margin of four and a half times.

Both stablecoins recorded surges in transfer volumes following an infamous tweet from Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on Nov. 6 announcing Binance would liquidate its entire FTX Token (FTT) holdings. FTX went into bankruptcy soon after.

Since then, USDC has been the preferred choice for crypto users averaging over $12.5 billion more in transfer volume compared to USDT per day according to Glassnode data.

*Total transfer volumes for USDC (In blue) and USDT (In green) from Oct. 8 to Jan. 10. Source: Glassnode.*

While each of the stablecoins is designed to trade as close to one U.S. dollar as possible and is backed by reserves held by its issuers, USDC is regarded by some in the crypto community as a potentially safer option.

Supporters point to USDC’s assets, which are backed by cash or short-term U.S. treasuries and its monthly audits by global accounting firm Grant Thornton.

Tether has faced criticism over a number of years for not providing a proper audit and for being less transparent about its reserves.

The company behind USDT was fined $41 million in Oct. 2021 by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which accused it of only holding sufficient reserves 27.6% of the time between 2016 and 2018 despite claiming its tokens were fully backed by fiat currencies.

Tether has been reducing the commercial paper backing its issued tokens in favor of safer alternatives, with the latest asset breakdown on Nov. 10 showing that nearly $46 billion of its reserves consist of cash, bank deposits and U.S. treasuries.

USDT briefly lost its peg to the U.S. dollar following the FTX collapse amid fears it was exposed to Alameda Research and FTX, which Tether denied.

On-chain evidence suggests the two firms were attempting to short the stablecoin.

USDT had been recording transfer volumes much higher than USDCs up until May 2021, after Tether had increased the supply of the token from $8.79 billion to $61.82 billion over the last year, representing an increase of 603%.

*Market cap of USDT from May 2018 to Jan. 2022. Source: TradingView*

Despite the subsequent change in consumer preferences, Tether had referred to the growth in market capitalization as an indication of “the market’s continued trust and confidence in Tether,” and noted every token can be redeemed for U.S. dollars on a 1:1 basis.

Be ‘very wary’ of crypto proof-of-reserve audits: SEC official

December 23, 2022 Coin Telegraph

audit

SEC’s acting chief accountant Paul Munter said that investors shouldn't place too much confidence in a company holding up a proof-of-reserves audit.

A senior official from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has warned investors to be “very wary” about relying on a crypto company’s “proof-of-reserves.”

“We’re warning investors to be very wary of some of the claims that are being made by crypto companies,” said SEC’s acting chief accountant Paul Munter in a Dec. 22 interview with The Wall Street Journal.

A number of crypto firms have commissioned “proof-of-reserves” audits since the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, aiming to quell concerns over their own exchange’s financial soundness.

However, Munter said the results of these audits isn’t necessarily an indicator that the company is in a good financial position.

“Investors should not place too much confidence in the mere fact a company says it’s got a proof-of-reserves from an audit firm.”

He further added that these proof-of-reserve reports “lack” the sufficient information for stakeholders to determine whether the company has enough assets to meet its liabilities.

Munter also recently spoke at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants Conference in Washington, D.C on Dec.12, where he reportedly expressed frustration about the constantly evolving structure of crypto firms.

Munter noted to WSJ that if the SEC uncovers “troublesome” fact patterns, it may refer the matter to the division of enforcement for further review.

Earlier this month, John Reed Stark, former chief of the SEC of Internet Enforcement raised a “red flag” on Twitter over Binance’s proof-of-reserve report via Twitter on Dec. 11.

He said that Binance’s proof of reserve report didn’t address the effectiveness of internal financial controls, nor does it express an opinion or assurance conclusion nor does it vouch for the numbers.

It was revealed on Dec. 16 that French auditing firm Mazars Group, discontinued its section on its website dedicated to crypto audits.

The firm had worked with several prominent crypto exchanges including Binance, KuCoin and Crypto.com

Ben Sharon, co-founder of digital asset management firm Illumishare SRG previously told Cointelegraph on Nov. 19 that a proof-of-reserve audit is still a viable step to review the financial health of crypto exchanges, but it’s not enough by itself.

Investors have lost millions over the past twelve months with major crypto firms going bankrupt including Three Capital Arrows, Celsius and most recently cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

$16K retest the most likely path for Bitcoin, according to 2 derivative metrics

December 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Asia

Top traders' long-to-short ratio and stronger demand for stablecoins in Asia indicate higher odds of further price correction.

Bitcoin (BTC) broke below $16,800 on Dec. 16, reaching its lowest level in more than two weeks. More importantly, the movement was a complete turnaround from the momentary excitement that had led to the $18,370 peak on Dec. 14.

Curiously, Bitcoin dropped 3.8% in seven days, compared to the S&P 500 Index's 3.5% decline in the same period. So from one side, Bitcoin bulls have some comfort in knowing that correlation played a key role; at the same time, however, it got $206 million of BTC futures contracts liquidated on Dec. 15.

Some troublesome economic data from the auto loan industry has made investors uncomfortable as the rate of defaults from the lowest-income consumers now exceeds 2019 levels. Concerns emerged after the average monthly payment for a new car reached $718, a 26% increase in three years.

Furthermore, alongside the Bank of England, two central banks increased interest rates by 50 basis points to multiyear peaks — highlighting that borrowing costs would likely continue rising for longer than the market had hoped.

Uncertainty in cryptocurrency markets reemerged after two of the most prominent auditors suddenly dropped their services, leaving exchanges hanging. For instance, the website of the French auditing firm Mazars Group is offline. The firm previously worked with several exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin and Crypto.com.

Meanwhile, accounting firm Armanino has also reportedly ended its crypto auditing services. The auditor worked with several crypto trading platforms like OKX, Gate.io and the troubled FTX exchange. Curiously, Armanino was the first accounting firm to establish relationships in the crypto industry, dating back to 2014.

Let's look at derivatives metrics to better understand how professional traders are positioned in the current market conditions.

The Asia-based stablecoin premium drops to 2-month low

The USD Coin (USDC) premium is a good gauge of China-based crypto retail trader demand. It measures the difference between China-based peer-to-peer trades and the United States dollar.

Excessive buying demand tends to pressure the indicator above fair value at 100%, and during bearish markets, the stablecoin's market offer is flooded, causing a 4% or higher discount.

*USDC peer-to-peer vs. USD/CNY. Source: OKX*

Currently, the USDC premium stands at 101.8%, up from 99% on Dec. 12, indicating higher demand for stablecoin buying from Asian investors. The data gained relevance after the brutal 9.7% correction in five days since the $18,370 peak on Dec. 14.

However, this indicator should not necessarily be viewed as bullish because the stablecoin could have been acquired to protect from downside risks in cryptocurrencies — meaning investors are becoming more bearish.

Leverage buyers slowly thrown in the towel

The long-to-short metric excludes externalities that might have solely impacted the stablecoin market. It also gathers data from exchange clients' positions on the spot, perpetual, and quarterly futures contracts, thus offering better information on how professional traders are positioned.

There are occasional methodological discrepancies between different exchanges, so readers should monitor changes instead of absolute figures.

*Exchanges' top traders Bitcoin long-to-short ratio. Source: Coinglass*

As Bitcoin broke below the $16,800 support, professional traders decreased their leverage long positions according to the long-to-short indicator.

For instance, the ratio for Binance traders slightly declined from 1.11 on Dec. 14 to the current 1.04 level. Meanwhile, Huobi displayed a modest decrease in its long-to-short ratio, with the indicator moving from 1.01 to 0.05 in the same period.

Lastly, at the OKX exchange, the metric decreased from 1.00 on Dec. 14 to the current 0.98 ratio. So, on average, traders have decreased their leverage-long ratio over the last five days, indicating lesser confidence in the market.

A potential retest of $16,000 is likely in the making

The moderate 101.8% stablecoin premium in Asia, paired with the information of top traders' long-to-short indicator decline, tells a story of buyers gradually ceding to pessimism.

Furthermore, the $206 million liquidation in long BTC futures contracts signals that buyers continue to use excessive leverage, setting up the perfect storm for another leg of correction.

For now, the Bitcoin price continues to be heavily dependent on traditional stock markets. Still, weak macroeconomic data and the uncertainty brought by crypto auditing firms point to higher odds of a $16,000 Bitcoin retest.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Total crypto market cap takes another hit, but traders remain neutral

December 16, 2022 Coin Telegraph

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The total crypto market cap is at risk of falling below $825 billion, but data shows traders actively adding to their longs and shorts.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization dropped 8.1% in the past two days after failing to break the $880 billion resistance on Dec. 14.

The rejection did not invalidate the 4-week-long ascending channel, but a weekly close below $825 billion will confirm a shift to the lower band and reduce the support level to $790 billion.

*Total crypto market cap in USD, 12-hour. Source: TradingView*

The overall investor sentiment toward the market remains bearish, and year-to-date losses amount to 66%. Despite this, Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped a mere 2% on the week, down to the $16,800 level at 17:00 UTC on Dec. 16.

A far different scenario emerged for altcoins which are being pressured by pending regulation and fears that major exchanges and miners could be insolvent . This explains why the total market capitalization had dropped by 4.7% since Dec. 9.

According to court documents filed on Dec. 15, a United States Trustee announced the committee responsible for part of FTX's bankruptcy proceedings. Among those is Wintermute Asia, a leading market maker and GGC International, an affiliate of the troubled lending platform Genesis. Investors remain in the dark about who the biggest creditors from the failed FTX exchange group are and this is fueling speculation that contagion could continue to spread.

On Dec. 15, The central bank of the Netherlands issued a warning to investors using KuCoin, saying the exchange was operating without legal registration. De Nederlandsche Bank added that the crypto firm was "illegally offering services" and "illegally offering custodian wallets" for users.

Adding to the drama, on Dec. 16, Mazars Group, a company known for its proof-of-reserve audit services for crypto companies, reportedly removed recent documents that detail exchange audits from its website. The firm was previously appointed as an official auditor for Binance's proof-of-reserve updates, a movement that was followed by Kucoin and Crypto.com.

The Bitcoin mining sector has also suffered due to the strong correction in cryptocurrency prices and rising energy costs. Publicly-listed miner Core Scientific was offered a $72 million contingent emergency credit line to avoid bankruptcy. The financial lender requires suspension of all payments to Core Scientific's equipment lenders while Bitcoin remains below $18,500.

The 4.7% weekly drop in total market capitalization was impacted mainly by Ether's (ETH) 5.4% negative price move and BNB, which traded down 15.1%. Consequently, the bearish sentiment significantly impacted altcoins, with 14 of the top 80 coins dropping 12% or more in the period.

*Weekly winners and losers among the top 80 coins. Source: Nomics*

The Open Network (TON) gained 30% after Telegram launched bidding for anonymous phone numbers sold for TON tokens.

Bitcoin SV (BSV) rallied 11.7% after Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto and leader of the altcoin project, appealed to his loss in Norway courts.

Trust Wallet (TWT) saw a 27.2% correction after its parent company (Binance) faced $1.9 billion in withdrawals in 24 hours.

Leverage demand is balanced between bulls and bears

Currently, data shows demand for leverage is split between bulls and bears.

Perpetual contracts, also known as inverse swaps, have an embedded rate usually charged every eight hours. Exchanges use this fee to avoid exchange risk imbalances.

A positive funding rate indicates that longs (buyers) demand more leverage. However, the opposite situation occurs when shorts (sellers) require additional leverage, causing the funding rate to turn negative.

*Perpetual futures accumulated 7-day funding rate on Dec. 16. Source: Coinglass*

The 7-day funding rate was near zero for Bitcoin and altcoins, meaning the data points to a balanced demand between leverage longs (buyers) and shorts (sellers) in the period.

Traders should also analyze the options markets to understand whether whales and arbitrage desks have placed higher bets on bullish or bearish strategies.

The options put/call volume reflects a neutral market

Traders can gauge the market's overall sentiment by measuring whether more activity is going through call (buy) options or put (sell) options. Generally speaking, call options are used for bullish strategies, whereas put options are for bearish ones.

A 0.70 put-to-call ratio indicates that put options open interest lag the more bullish calls by 30% and this is bullish. In contrast, a 1.40 indicator favors put options by 40%, which can be deemed bearish.

*BTC options volume put-to-call ratio. Source: laevitas.ch*

Even though Bitcoin's price failed to break the $18,000 resistance on Dec. 14, there was no excessive demand for downside protection using options. More precisely, the indicator has been below 1.00, so slightly optimistic, since Dec. 12.

Presently, the put-to-call volume ratio stands near 0.88 because the options market is more strongly populated by neutral-to-bullish strategies which favors call (buy) options by 12%.

Derivatives markets are neutral, but the newsflow is negative

Despite the substantial weekly price decline in a handful of altcoins and the 4.7% drop in total market capitalization, derivatives metrics reflect no signs of panic.

There has been a balanced demand for longs and shorts using futures contracts. As a result, the BTC options risk assessment metric remains favorable even after Bitcoin's 8.5% correction following the $18,370 high on Dec. 14.

Ultimately, bulls should not expect the $825 billion market capitalization to hold, which does not necessarily mean an immediate retest of the $790 billion support.

Currently, the lower band of the ascending channel continues to exert upward pressure, but the newsflow looks favorable for bears.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Binance and Crypto.com Publish Proof-of-Reserve Audits Conducted by Global Auditor Mazars Group

December 10, 2022 Bitcoin.com

audit

The Asia-based stablecoin premium drops to 2-month low

Leverage buyers slowly thrown in the towel

A potential retest of $16,000 is likely in the making

Leverage demand is balanced between bulls and bears

The options put/call volume reflects a neutral market

Derivatives markets are neutral, but the newsflow is negative

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