nansen
Binance To List Ethereum-Based Crypto Gaming Project After It Prints 108% Rally
Binance, the largest digital asset exchange in the world, is about to list a hot gaming-focused crypto project. In a new announcement, Binance says that the platform will support Ethereum (ETH)-based Ronin (RON) for trading beginning Tuesday following the token soaring by more than 100% in a month. Once launched for open trading, Binance says […]
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Coinbase’s Bitcoin Reserves Skyrocket by Over $450,000,000 As Binance BTC Holdings Plunge: On-Chain Data
New on-chain data reveals that top US-based crypto exchange Coinbase is seeing its Bitcoin (BTC) reserves skyrocket as Binance’s BTC holdings plummet. According to data from blockchain tracker CryptoQuant, Coinbase’s BTC reserves have increased by 12,000 BTC, worth about $450 million, while Binance’s Bitcoin holdings have decreased by about 5,000 BTC, or $187 million. The […]
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Binance Experiences Withdrawals, but ‘No Mass Exodus’ of Funds Despite $4,000,000,000 Settlement: Nansen
New data from market intelligence firm Nansen reveals that Binance is experiencing relatively minimal effects from being charged $4 billion in fines by US regulators. According to Nansen, the world’s largest crypto exchange saw an outflow of $17 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) in one hour and $956 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in one […]
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Alameda sent $4.1B of FTT tokens to FTX before crash: Nansen report
Nansen analysts observed “unusual transactions between FTX and Alameda” in the days leading up to FTX’s bankruptcy.
Blockchain data analysts from Nansen have revisited the days leading up to the collapse of FTX, including the transfer of $4.1 billion worth of FTT tokens between the exchange and Alameda Research.
A Nansen report shared with Cointelegraph reveals unique observations from the blockchain analytics firm, highlighting the close relationship between the two companies founded by Sam Bankman-Fried as the former FTX CEO appears in court to face a litany of charges relating to the collapse of the exchange.
The collapse of FTX is widely reported to have been sparked by initial reports that flagged the significant 40% share of Alameda’s $14.6 billion in assets held in FTT tokens in September 2022.
Nansen analysts revealed that they had observed dubious on-chain interactions between FTX and Alameda before these reports came to light. Between Sept. 28 and Nov. 1, Alameda sent $4.1 billion FTT tokens to FTX and several continuous transfers of United States dollar-pegged stablecoins amounting to $388 million.
On-chain data also indicated that FTX held around 280 million FTT tokens (80%) of the total 350 million FTT supply. Blockchain data reflects “considerable” proportions of FTT trading volume amounting to billions of dollars flowing between various FTX and Alameda wallets.
Nansen also highlights that most of the FTT token supply, consisting of company tokens and unsold non-company tokens, was locked in a three-year vesting contract. The lone beneficiary of the contract is an Alameda-controlled wallet, according to the analysts.
Given that the two companies controlled around 90% of the FTT token supply, Nansen suggests that the entities were able to prop up each other’s balance sheets.
The report also suggests that Alameda most likely sold FTT tokens over-the-counter, as well as for collateral for loans from cryptocurrency lending firms.
“This theory is backed by historical on-chain data where we observed regular large inflows and outflows between FTX, Alameda and Genesis Trading wallets with transfer volumes up to $1.7 billion as seen in Dec 2021.”
The collapse of the Terra ecosystem and subsequent bankruptcy of Three Arrows Capital (3AC) likely led to liquidity issues for Alameda due to the drop in value of FTT, which led to a covert, $4 billion FTT-backed loan from FTX.
“Our on-chain data indicates that this may have happened. Amidst the collapse of 3AC in mid-June 2022, Alameda sent ~163m of FTT to FTX wallets, worth ~$4b at that time.”
The researchers claim that the $4 billion transaction volume coincided with a $4 billion loan figure that close associates of Bankman-Fried had divulged in an interview with Reuters.
Blockchain data also reflects how Alameda would not have been able to make good on an offer to buy FTT tokens from Binance at $22 on Nov. 6. This was after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced that the exchange would offload its tokens following disparaging reports about Alameda’s balance sheet.
Magazine: Blockchain detectives: Mt. Gox collapse saw birth of Chainalysis
Hacker Breaches Nansen’s Third-Party Vendor, Exposes Some of the Crypto Data Firm’s Customer Details
A hacker managed to steal a significant chunk of customer information from the crypto data firm Nansen after breaching one of the company’s third-party vendors. Nansen acknowledged the attack in an announcement on the social media platform X on Friday, noting that the vendor breach allowed the hacker to access admin rights to an account […]
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Polygon Founder Responds to Allegation That the Crypto Asset’s Backer Dumped Over $5,900,000 in MATIC on Binance
The founder of the Ethereum (ETH) layer-2 scaling solution Polygon (MATIC) is responding to allegations that the Polygon Foundation deposited nearly $6 million worth of the digital asset on Binance. In a new thread on the social media platform X, Polyon founder Sandeep Nailwal says that previous reports about the crypto asset’s backer dumping MATIC […]
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Optimism network transactions surged 67% following Bedrock upgrade — Nansen
The Optimism layer-2 network saw less than 300,000 transactions per day around the time of the upgrade, but this number increased to over 500,000 afterward.
Transactions on the Optimism network surged 67% following its June 7 “Bedrock” upgrade, according to a June 26 Twitter thread from blockchain analytics firm Nansen. The network had been seeing less than 300,000 transactions per day before the upgrade, but this figure increased to over 550,000 by the middle of June.
Since Optimism's Bedrock upgrade on June 6
— Nansen (@nansen_ai) June 26, 2023
Its daily transactions have increased by about 67% to ~500k
And gas fees are reduced by about 50% to ~$50k pic.twitter.com/9ACIMMFHbl
Optimism, a layer 2 of Ethereum, implemented its Bedrock hard fork on June 6. It was intended to reduce deposit times and fees, as well as increase the network’s security. According to the June 26 Nansen report, daily fees have fallen from $80,000 worth of Ether (ETH) directly before the upgrade to only $50,000 as of late June.
Optimism saw a sharp increase in transactions immediately following the hard fork, rising to over 400,000 from approximately June 5 to 9. Volume rose slower after the initial spike, reaching a peak of over 550,000 on or around June 15. It then started to fall slowly, reaching 500,000 transactions per day by the end of the time data was collected around June 23, according to a chart posted in Nansen’s Twitter thread.
Related: Binance’s BNB Chain introduces layer-2 testnet powered by Optimism
The top Optimism app leading up to the report was the decentralized credential protocol Galxe, which saw over 528,000 transactions during the week. The USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin had the second-highest transaction count at over 170,000. The remaining top five apps on Optimism included the Stargate Finance cross-chain bridge, the Perpetual Protocol futures trading app and the Gnosis Safe multisignature wallet.
The Bedrock upgrade was part of a broader set of proposals to create a “Superchain” consisting of multiple blockchain networks that rely on the same software for security and interoperability. Coinbase confirmed that its Base network would join Optimism as part of the Superchain. The Base team announced its “Path to Mainnet” preliminary roadmap on May 24.
Exchanges pledged $2.5B to user protection funds amid FTX’s collapse: Report
Not all exchanges have disclosed wallet addresses for the funds, however.
According to a new report published by blockchain analytics firm Nansen on June 14, most reputable cryptocurrency exchanges adopted user protection funds amid the collapse of FTX. Together, exchanges such as Binance, OKX and Bitget have more than $2 billion combined in nominal fiat protection funds. Meanwhile, Huobi’s insurance fund is collateralized by 20,000 Bitcoin (BTC), while Coinbase grants up to 150,000 British pounds ($189,140) worth of insurance to U.K. customers’ accounts. The Nansen researchers wrote:
“Proof of Reserves should become the minimum standard in the exchange industry, However, as stated above, these are both positive indicators for an exchange but do not guarantee its solvency.”
Among other items, Binance has maintained the top spot with regard to both spot and derivatives trading volume. In the spot sector, the exchange had an overall market share of 69% and a monthly trading volume of $209.5 billion in May. In the spot markets, Kraken’s trading volume increased the most, gaining 14.35% to reach $18.9 billion in the six months following FTX’s collapse, compared with the preceding six months. Meanwhile, Bitfinex’s trading volume fell the most, dropping 59.5% to $5 billion in the same period.
As for crypto derivatives, all exchanges saw declines amid FTX’s collapse except for Bitget, whose average six-month trading volume increased by 4.85% sequentially to $204.1 billion. Bitget, Bybit and Binance have performed relatively well since the FTX collapse, the researchers wrote. Nevertheless, Nansen cautioned that the uncertain regulatory environment in the United States casts a shadow on exchanges’ growth:
“The SEC Chair Gary Gensler has posited that nearly all tokens are securities. This has prevented many exchanges from operating in the US. If the US takes this official position, it could cause significant issues throughout the world for CEXs. It will be worth carefully monitoring the position taken here.”
Magazine: Binance humiliated, HK needs 100K crypto workers, China’s AI unicorn
$1,280,000,000 in Crypto Yanked Out of Coinbase Amid SEC Lawsuit Against the US Exchange: On-Chain Data
Blockchain data and research firm Nansen says that hundreds of millions of dollars exited the Coinbase group in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to Nansen, Coinbase and the exchange’s custodial arm recorded negative netflows, the sum of deposits and withdrawals, of approximately $1.28 billion after […]
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