From ASTER token whizzing past $1 after Binance cofounder’s screenshot to Hong Kong relaxing its crypto regulatory framework, the crypto market is going through a lot of changes. The following is what happened today.
Ripple launches prime brokerage for the U.S.
Ripple, the company behind the XRP token, announced the launch of the digital asset spot prime brokerage for the U.S. market. With the launch of this brokerage–Hidden Roads, U.S. can do Over The Counter (OTC) spot transactions, cross-margin holdings with the rest of their digital asset portfolio, including OTC swaps and CME futures, and options.
“The launch of OTC spot execution capabilities complements our existing suite of OTC and cleared derivatives services in digital assets and positions us to provide U.S. institutions with a comprehensive offering to suit their trading strategies and needs,” said Michael Higgins, International CEO, Ripple Prime.
Solana ETFs hit a daily inflow hit $200 million
Solana ETFs saw its cumulative inflows increase to $199 million after the fund recorded inflows of funds for four consecutive days. According to SosoValue, SOL registered a daily netflow of $44 million as of the 31st of October. Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have been hemorrhaging badly. BTC ETFs saw a daily net outflow of about $192 million, while ETH ETF saw $98 million flowing out of its funds on a daily basis.
Balancer’s security breach cost $70.9 million
Decentralized exchange and automated market maker, Balancer, has reportedly been exploited for more than $70 million. According to Nansen, staked Ethereum worth $70.9 million was transferred to a new wallet in three transactions. Among the transfer tokens were 6,850 StakeWise Staked ETH (OSETH), 6,590 Wrapped Ether (WETH), and 4,260 Lido wstETH (wSTETH). Though Balancer has not issued an official statement, it is believed that this exploit occurred as a result of a security breach.
ASTER flies past $1 with a screenshot
Binance crypto exchange cofounder, Changpeng Zhao, posted a screenshot of his ASTER holdings, and the price of the token went berserk. The cofounder took a snapshot of his 2 million ASTER tokens worth about $2.5 million and posted on X. Just after the disclosure, ASTER appreciated from as low as $0.91 to $1.2 in an instance.
Hong Kong relaxes crypto regulatory framework
In an attempt to become the digital asset hub of the region, Hong Kong relaxed its regulatory framework. Under the new regulations, licensed crypto exchanges will be able to access global order books. The city has been vehemently working on introducing licensing regimes, Bitcoin, and Ether ETFs. However, despite these efforts, the trading activity has been quite less as it has been overshadowed by giants like the United States. Regarding this, Julia Leung, Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), stated,
“You can say we are on the tougher side,” however, “Once we are sure that we are able to protect investors, we do relax — as we did with global liquidity.”
Crypto derivatives leak $300 million
Today, the market saw around $290 million in funds being pulled out of the crypto derivatives market. Around $191 million flowed out of BTC ETFs, while $98 million was moved out of Ether ETFs.
Long vs short ratio 1:10
$1.19 billion was liquidated during the past 24 hours, with the majority of the liquidated positions being longs. $1.08 billion long positions were liquidated, while only a fraction of it, $110 million, was liquidated in short positions. In terms of position liquidated by coin, BTC long positions saw 313 million being wiped off.
