Stats Show Over 53,000 Wrapped Bitcoins Were Removed From Circulation in the Last 3 Months

July 24, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Celsius moved $529M worth of wBTC to FTX exchange: Should we be worried?

July 8, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Celsius

The crypto community is concerned that the transfer could lead to the dumping of more than $500 million Bitcoin into the market.

Embattled lending platform Celsius has transferred nearly 25,000 Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), worth $528.9 million to crypto exchange FTX, prompting concerns from some in the community about whether a dump may soon follow.

The huge transfer to the exchange comes after the lending platform paid off its remaining $41.2 million of debt to Maker (MKR) protocol, freeing up its loan’s entire wBTC collateral.

However, the community is unsure what to make of the transfer, with some fearing that a dump of the wBTC on the exchange could soon follow, pushing Bitcoin prices down.

Others have been more hopeful that the move may be in preparation for Celsius to swap their wrapped Bitcoin for BTC, which may be a good sign for depositors who’ve been hoping for Bitcoin withdrawals to eventually reopen on the Celsius platform. Bitcoin is up 8% in the past 24 hours to trade above $22,100, suggesting market participants are taking the news in their stride.

The 21,962 WBTC unlocked from paying off the remaining DAI loan has already found its way to FTX...

that didn't take long...

Incoming $BTC dump? https://t.co/A9B9YaLQ1W #CelShortSqueeze = #CelPumpAndDump

Not your keys, not your crypto pic.twitter.com/V2edblhmXZ
— Airdawg (@Colwellinvestor) July 7, 2022

The 25,000 wBTC sent to FTX follows the news earlier today that 150,000 BTC may be potentially released into the market as Mt.Gox creditors get their BTC back after an eight-year wait.

So far, both Celsius and CEO Alex Mashinsky have remained radio silent about any movement of funds.

Crypto lawyer Joni Pirovich, Principal of Blockchain & Digital Assets told Cointelegraph on July 7 that Celsius’ repayment of its loan position with Maker will ultimately assist its customers.

“Maker protocol relies on overcollateralized loan positions, so the loan repayment of US$41 million worth of DAI released 21,962 WBTC of capital which is now available to meet customer withdrawal requests.”

Pirovich added that even if Celsius ends up filing for bankruptcy, that repaying the loan position and withdrawing collateral could improve the position of customers.

“The question is what will Celsius do with the withdrawn collateral? Keep it in reserve for customers or risk it to trade and on-lend.”

Celsius Insolvency Rumors Swirl After Company Pauses Withdrawals, Nexo Offers to Buy Firm’s Assets

June 13, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Celsius exodus: $320M in crypto sent to FTX, user withdrawals paused

June 13, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Celsius

Celsius has been moving more than a quarter of a billion dollars worth of funds from Aave into the FTX exchange for reasons not specified in addition to suspending withdrawals for users.

Crypto staking and lending platform Celsius may be dealing with its rumored liquidity crisis by unstaking $247 million worth of Wrapped Bitcoin from Aave and sending it to FTX exchange.

Speculations among the crypto community are now flaring as the project has been moving massive amounts of WBTC, ETH, and other crypto assets in addition to pausing withdrawals for users.

Celsius users have criticized the platform for how they believe the project has mismanaged its funds following the collapse of the Anchor Protocol on the now-named Terra Classic blockchain. The project could be addressing those concerns with the recent moves to stabilize liquidity.

Some think that if Celsius fails, it would sell its significant stack of staked ETH (stETH), which would cause it to depeg further from ETH. stETH is a token provided by the Lido DeFi lending platform that is given as proof that a user has staked ETH. It is currently trading about 4.4% lower than ETH.

Unusual token movements began at about 18:00 ET on June 12 from Celsius’s main DeFi wallet when it started removing WBTC from the Aave staking and lending platform, which Celsius used to earn interest on its deposits.

Celsius withdrew 50,000 Ether and 7,000 WBTC collateral from its Aave position in core DeFi wallet 0x8ace. 6,000 WBTC and 20,000 Ether (so far) have been sent to #FTX...

After receiving $169 mil $USDC from FTX... pic.twitter.com/xquMoIcyuZ
— Dirty Bubble Media: ⏰ (@MikeBurgersburg) June 13, 2022

So far, 9,500 WBTC tokens worth about $247 million have been redeemed from Aave. Following a series of transactions, all of those tokens have been sent to the FTX exchange for an unknown reason.

In addition to WBTC, it appears that 54,749 ETH worth about $74.5 million have been sent to FTX.

While such activity bodes very poorly for the transparency of Celsius until it explains the moves, the firm may be trying to ensure its liquidity is stable by replacing many of the volatile funds like WBTC and ETH it withdrew from Aave with stablecoins.

Since June 12, Celsius has staked 204 million USDC stablecoins on Aave. It also has deposited 10 million USDC plus about 8.2 million DAI stablecoins to Compound, another DeFi staking and lending platform.

The total 222 million stablecoins re-staked by Celsius is almost equal to the value of WBTC tokens it removed but still does not come close to matching the combined value of WBTC and ETH.

The Celsius team’s plans with the cryptos that have been moved are still not clear. There is a real possibility that it could sell the assets it sent to FTX, but another likely option is that it intends to stake the tokens they are sending to the exchange to earn yields.

As of the time of writing, Celsius has sent 9,500 WBTC, 54,749 ETH, 375,343 FTT worth $10 million, 2,455 MATIC ($1,158), 260,000 UNI ($1 million), 2 million Pax Dollars (USDP), and 300,000 TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoins to FTX. However, token movements were still taking place by 23:00 ET.

.@CelsiusNetwork is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts. Acting in the interest of our community is our top priority. Our operations continue and we will continue to share information with the community. More here: https://t.co/CvjORUICs2
— Celsius (@CelsiusNetwork) June 13, 2022

Presently, Celsius users might be biting their nails in anxiousness because the platform paused withdrawals in order to “put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations,” according to an announcement from the project on June 13.

“We are working with a singular focus: to protect and preserve assets to meet our obligations to customers.”

Cointelegraph reported in May that Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky deflected blame for the problems facing the platform, including rumors of insolvency, to shadowy opportunists on Wall Street.

Crypto investors are largely unimpressed with the new round of FUD coming from Celsius. The total crypto market cap has dropped 7.6% to $1.07 trillion over the past 24 hours. CEL, Celsius’s own token, has dropped more than 60% over the past 12 hours to $0.15. All prices listed in the article came from price tracker CoinGecko.

Renowned Fashion Brand Gucci Diving Into Crypto, Will Accept Digital Asset Payments in Select US Stores: Report

May 5, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Whale Watching: A Deep Dive Into the Portfolios of the World’s Largest Ethereum Whales

April 28, 2022 Bitcoin.com

How to store Bitcoin on MetaMask?

April 26, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Only Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) can be stored on MetaMask as this wallet supports Ethereum-enabled distributed applications specifically.

MetaMask is a well-known wallet for Ethereum-enabled distributed applications (dApps). But can MetaMask hold Bitcoin (BTC), which remains the largest cryptocurrency?

For many crypto investors, Bitcoin is an important part of their portfolio. Besides being an investment asset, Bitcoin can also be used as a payment method. Thanks to wallets such as MetaMask, paying via blockchain technology has become much easier. This Ethereum crypto wallet enables millions of investors to participate in everything the crypto market has to offer. Even though Ether (ETH) is a very popular means of payment, most people buy Bitcoin.

However, Bitcoin is not the cryptocurrency you think of when you talk about buying a non-fungible token (NFT) or investing in decentralized finance (DeFi). Still, there may be situations where you would like to use Bitcoin for these actions. So in this article, you will learn how to store Bitcoin with the MetaMask!

MetaMask crypto wallet

MetaMask is an Ethereum wallet that is available as an app and as an extension in the web browser. In other words, MetaMask allows users to store their private keys and then securely use apps and websites with Ethereum-based DApps and smart contracts. One of the most popular crypto wallets, MetaMask recently passed the 30 million user mark in March 2022. This is due, in part, to the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

Is MetaMask only for Ethereum?

MetaMask is only suitable for tokens that use the Ethereum blockchain, the so-called ERC-20 tokens. If you want to use other tokens (i.e., tokens that are not ERC-20 tokens), you will have to exchange them for ERC-20 tokens. It would then be possible to store these tokens in your MetaMask.

An example of this is Zcash, a cryptocurrency suitable for making anonymous transactions. This cryptocurrency is not based on the Ethereum network and is therefore not an ERC-20 token. But by wrapping Zcash tokens, you can still use Zcash.

MetaMask hardware wallet

Protecting cryptocurrencies often comes up when people first start their crypto research. It is of great importance, which is why a good wallet is indispensable. A hardware wallet is often recommended because it can be used to store your cryptocurrencies offline. But is MetaMask also a hardware wallet?

MetaMask is not a hardware wallet. It is a software wallet. These wallets are also called hot wallets and are connected to the internet. Even so, you can still connect MetaMask to a hardware wallet. This way, you can also use MetaMask with a Ledger, which is the most well-known hardware wallet.

To do so, open the ETH app, and select "Connect Hardware Wallet" to integrate your Ledger hardware wallet into MetaMask. Then, a pop-up window will open, prompting you to choose your device and click "Connect."

When you use a Ledger with the MetaMask browser extension, the software wallet only functions as a portal and not as a wallet. Your private keys do not leave the Ledger so they are not stored on MetaMask.

Does MetaMask support Bitcoin?

MetaMask supports Bitcoin, but not in the way an exchange wallet accepts the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is not an ERC-20 token, so the largest cryptocurrency is not accepted directly by MetaMask. However, you can get BTC into your MetaMask in a roundabout way.

That said, do not try to send Bitcoin directly to your MetaMask. If you try to do so, MetaMask will not be able to receive the token, which could lead to negative consequences. You could lose all the Bitcoin you have sent at once, which would be a terrible situation!

How to send Bitcoin to MetaMask?

As you have read, it is not possible to send BTC directly to MetaMask. But this does not mean it is impossible to get Bitcoin into your MetaMask wallet. BTC runs on its own blockchain. On this Bitcoin blockchain, transactions can only be sent to Bitcoin addresses. This is true not only for Bitcoin but also for other blockchains such as Ethereum.

On the Ethereum blockchain, it is only possible to send Ethereum-related tokens. Sending Bitcoin over the Ethereum network is comparable to paying with the euro in the United States. The euro is not accepted as a currency in the United States, but you can use your euros in a roundabout way. By exchanging these euros, you can receive the same value in U.S. dollars and use this as a method of payment.

Nonetheless, if you do not want to exchange your Bitcoin for Ethereum, there are other solutions. This means that you need to lock your BTC in one place and then bring it to the Ethereum blockchain as a new token, which represents the Bitcoin locked on the Bitcoin blockchain. This is also called Wrapped BTC (wBTC), which means Bitcoin as an ERC-20 token.

How to wrap Bitcoin?

There are several ways to wrap your Bitcoin. Let's take Binance as an example. On Binance, BTC and wBTC are two different tokens, so you can trade them. By clicking on “Classic” in the Trade section of Binance, you will be taken to the exchange's trading platform. Here you can find the trading pair with both Bitcoin tokens. Here you can enter how many WBTC you want to buy and confirm this by clicking on Buy WBTC.

What if you don’t see your wBTC in your MetaMask? You can easily change this by adding the wBTC token using the steps below:

MetaMask wallet address

To put your wBTC to work, the wallet address of your MetaMask is very important and easy to find. By opening the application and logging in, you will arrive at the main MetaMask screen. Under your account name, you will find your unique code, which acts as your address. This address can be used to receive crypto.

You can share this code with others, but never share the other codes with anyone. Your login and recovery data are meant to protect your assets. If others get these codes, they can abuse them and cause you to lose your crypto assets.

MetaMask alternatives

MetaMask is a popular software wallet, but there are also alternative options. Because of all the different blockchains, several wallets are suitable only for a specific blockchain. Two examples are the Yoroi wallet of Cardano and the Phantom wallet of Solana.

Several software wallets are suitable for the ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The advantage of MetaMask is that you can use it through websites and the app. This is where MetaMask distinguishes itself from its competitors.

The Trust Wallet, for example, is a much respected software wallet, which can be used as a mobile application as an alternative to MetaMask. The MyEtherWallet and Mist Wallet, two website wallets that accept ERC-20 tokens, are also popular MetaMask alternatives.

Although MetaMask is the most popular all-around software wallet, it never hurts to use multiple wallets. Using different wallets is a type of risk management strategy. By using multiple wallets, you will not lose all your crypto assets when only one wallet is hacked.

Ethereum Whales Are Accumulating Bitcoin and Two Altcoin Projects While Unloading Dogecoin Rival Shiba Inu: On-Chain Data

April 21, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Trading for AKT, BADGER, BAND, CTSI and More Starts Now For USA and CA!

April 19, 2022 Kraken

NFTs most popular assets on Ethereum, but Wrapped Bitcoin growth stalls

February 24, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

NFTs have increased their lead over stablecoins and ERC-20 tokens in transfers on the Ethereum network since last July, while WBTC minted on chain has leveled off this month.

Transfers of nonfungible tokens (NFT) on Ethereum have surpassed transfers of stablecoins and altcoins while the supply of wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) has remained relatively stagnant since late last year.

Those are two of the key findings in the latest State of the Network update from Coin Metrics. It details how ERC-721 transfers overtook stablecoins and altcoins on Ethereum starting last July and have continued to increase the margin between them ever since. ERC-721 is the token standard for NFTs on the Ethereum network.

NFT transfers topped 50,000 per day on average starting late July and have not dipped below that line since. Daily NFT transfers are now averaging an all-time high over 300,000, a 600% increase since July.

Conversely, ERC-20 tokens including altcoins and stablecoin transfers have steadily decreased since late July. Transfers of altcoins have fallen 39% from 42,000 per day to about 30,000. Stablecoin transfers are down from about 24,000 in July to 18,000 today, a 25% decrease.

The numbers make the message fairly clear: NFTs are more popular than they have ever been. Demand on marketplaces to transact NFTs has never been higher according to data from DappRadar.

OpenSea is currently the all-time leader in NFT trading volume with $21.85 billion in value traded, but the LooksRare marketplace threatens OpenSea dominance. Over the past 30 days, LooksRare has seen $11.6 billion in volume compared to OpenSea’s $4.13 billion.

Such popularity is aided by the expansion of pro sports and the music industry into NFTs and the growth of virtual real estate. NFL superstar Tom Brady raised $170 million on Jan. 19 to help scale his Autograph NFT marketplace. On Feb. 3, recording artist John Legend launched an NFT platform for musicians to tokenize their work.

WBTC supply plateaus

WBTC is an ERC-20 token that has al enjoyed an increase in total transactions since July. After hitting a low of 110,000 daily transfers on Jul. 9, transfers peaked on Nov. 3 with 557,700. There are currently about 232,000 daily transfers according to CoinMetrics.

WBTC acts like a stablecoin that is pegged 1:1 to the value of Bitcoin, and can be redeemed at any time for a real BTC.

Although the total supply of WBTC on Ethereum is near its ATH of 271,000, equating to about 1.4% of the total BTC supply, CoinMetrics shows the rate of tokens being minted has flattened out since the beginning of February.

However, the total number of Ethereum addresses holding WBTC is currently at an ATH of 43,290 wallets according to CoinMetrics.

WBTC