| Hey Cryptonews, here's our curated daily bundle of crypto news. | | Bitcoin & co. react to FOMC's rate hikes
|  | - Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 25 basis points
- BTC and the market's cryptos reacted positively immediately after the announcement
After much anticipation, the Federal Reserve hiked interest hikes by 25 basis points from 4.5% to 4.75% - The highest level it has been at in decades. These high rates are among the Fed's attempts to slow down surging inflation, with the latter adversely affecting the value of stocks, equities, and yes, cryptos.
Immediately after the announcement, Bitcoin & co. remained fairly steady on the charts, maybe even a tad bullish. For its part, the world's largest cryptocurrency even pushed past BTC, albeit briefly.
The update also saw a resurgence in demand across Bitcoin's market. For instance, while Daily Active Addresses appreciated, the crypto's MVRV ratio hiked for the third straight day - A sign of the persistent demand across the market.
While the rate hike was within expected projections this time, the same might not be the case next time. Especially since the Fed seems intent on having better control of inflation by June.
| | Learn more | | Ethereum testnet 'Zhejiang' goes live
|  | - Testnet dubbed Zhejiang launched to test staking withdrawal
- The dress rehearsal for Shanghai went live at 15:00 UTC
The Ethereum network is one step closer to the much-anticipated Shanghai hard fork after the launch of a testnet - Zhejiang. This is likely to serve as a precursor to Shanghai, with the testnet allowing users to test out features that will be available following Shanghai.
The aforementioned testnet simulated the withdrawal of ETH from the Beacon Chain's staking contract. This is part of Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4895 (EIP) that will be implemented in the next Shanghai hard fork.
For the time being, March 2023 is being penciled in as the month when Shanghai will finally go live.
Before it does, however, on the 7th of February, developers will release the Shanghai + Capella testnets.
Developers have EIP-4844 scheduled for release in May or June 2023 as the next upgrade after Shanghai. EIP-4844 has the potential to decrease transaction fees by order of magnitude and boost the scalability of layer-2 rollups on Ethereum by a factor of 100.
| | Learn more | | Ripple's ODL product hits new highs
|  | - Despite its ODL milestone, its sales declined on the charts
- XRP's weighted sentiment hiked too, despite growing short positions
Ripple is in the news now after the popular blockchain firm released the Q4 202 XRP Markets report. According to the same, while its ODL product saw significant milestones, sales fell across the board. The former, for instance, was launched in France, Sweden, and Africa. On the contrary, total XRP sales fell from $310M in Q3 to $226M in Q4 - A 27% decline.
The report said,
"Liquidity in crypto-markets suffered due to the collapse of FTX, while risk assets broadly traded poorly due to continued global monetary tightening."
Even so, analysts believe there is room for optimism, especially since Ripple is now working on an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) sidechain for the XRPL. This has contributed to the altcoin's positive weighted sentiment too. The conclusion to the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple Labs might have an effect too.
Worth pointing out, however, that at press time, 51% of all positions taken up against XRP were short positions. | | Learn more | | Aave poised for extra leverage after an increase in treasury fund
|  | Aave saw a significant uptick in treasury funds Treasury funds of Uniswap [UNI], MakerDAO [DAO] surged too
Reports indicate that Aave Protocol [AAVE], a decentralized crypto-lending platform, recorded increased treasury funds. The protocol had about $143M in its treasury fund, with AAVE, USDC, DAI, and USDT as the significant assets in the fund.
The uptick in treasury funds denotes reliable revenue generation, something that can help the protocol run its strategic planning, development, and marketing activities, among others. In addition, an increase in treasury funds can boost investor confidence in the native token and increase its value in the long run.
Compared to its competitors like UNI and DAO, AAVE's treasury funds recorded the most significant growth over the past three months. However, AAVE generated limited interest from new addresses, as evidenced by declining network growth, which could undermine its performance.
| | MicroStrategy booked losses, but isn't backing down on Bitcoin
|  | | Despite losing about $1B on its Bitcoin holdings in 2022, MicroStrategy, a software analytics firm, will not stop trading the digital asset. The company sold 704 BTCs last year to recover a tax loss of $34M. However, the total firm's holdings remained at 132,500 BTCs as of December 2022, with an annualized loss of $1.3B over 2022.
According to Andrew Kang, MicroStrategy's Chief Financial Officer, the company will stick to its long-term Bitcoin strategy, like maximizing the asset's price volatility or market dislocations.
Michael Saylor, the co-founder of MicroStrategy, reiterated that the Bitcoin index is a crucial benchmark for the company. He added that Bitcoin is the only universally acknowledged digital asset and should be considered a safe haven by investors.
| | DoJ reportedly investigating Silvergate
|  | - DoJ is investigating Silvergate's ties to the bankrupt FTX exchange
- The report of the investigation saw Silvergate's shares plunge
Reports of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) investigating Silvergate's connection to the bankrupt FTX exchange have unnerved investors. The reports saw Silvergate's shares plummet by over 25%.
Silvergate drew the attention of DoJ's fraud unit. The unit is keen on uncovering the links between the bank, FTX, and Alameda Research. To this end, the fraud team is probing accounts linked to the two firms.
The news comes after BlackRock, a global investment firm, increased its stake in Silvergate to 7.2%.
The FTX contagion forced Silvergate to sell some of its assets at a loss to support over $8B in withdrawals during the bank run. In addition, it laid off about 40% of its workforce to readjust to the market. The DoJ, alongside a possible U.S Senate probe, could complicate matters further.
| | Reliance Retail begins accepting India's CBDC
|  | - Reliance Retail's payment system to expand on acceptance of digital rupee (e₹)
- India is piloting a test on its CBDC across wholesale and retail segments
Reliance Retail, a major retail chain in India, now accepts digital rupee (e₹) as part of its payments. The digital rupee is India's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). At the moment, India is running a pilot test on the CBDC as countries race to formalize their respective CBDCs in 2023.
The pilot test targets the wholesale and retail segments in India. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's central bank, stated that a digital rupee would reduce the operational cost of handling cash.
For customers opting to pay using the digital rupee, Reliance Retail will give them QR codes to complete their transactions. A partnership between ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Innoviti Technologies, and the retail giant, powers the CBDC payment system.
| | Bitcoin & co. see red
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