On Valentine’s Day 2024, the crypto market witnessed notable events and developments that captured the attention of enthusiasts and investors alike. From significant price movements to emerging trends, here’s a comprehensive overview of what transpired in the crypto space on this romantic occasion:
Crypto markets today – The tea
The crypto market has witnessed tremendous growth today. The total market value of Bitcoin’s circulating supply surpassed $1 trillion as the BTC price rose above $51,000. The current circulating quantity of Bitcoin is 19,627,443 BTC, or 93.46% of the total amount, which is hard limited at 21 million.
The global crypto market cap is now $2.03 trillion, up 3.2% in the last 24 hours and 88.13% from a year ago. As of today, Bitcoin’s (BTC) market capitalization is $1.01 trillion, signifying a 50.09% dominance. Meanwhile, stablecoins’ market capitalization is $139 billion, accounting for 6.84% of the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization.
Previously, Bitcoin achieved a $1 trillion market capitalization milestone in November 2021, during a bull run that propelled BTC to a brief all-time high of $69,000. Simultaneously, the bull run spread throughout the crypto ecosystem, resulting in the first time that the combined crypto market capitalization exceeded $3 trillion.
United States government officials plan to fight crypto crime
In a statement before the House Financial Services Committee, a US Treasury official voiced concern about the use of crypto in illegal finance and requested broader ability to pursue bad actors. The committee hearing is scheduled for February 15.
Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stressed this need in his prepared remarks for a congressional hearing on terrorism and cryptocurrency crimes.
Nelson’s statement comes with increased attention from Washington lawmakers, notably Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has been promoting her anti-money laundering legislation. The Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act (DAAMLA), which Warren reintroduced to the United States Senate in July 2023, specifically targets the criminal use of digital assets for money laundering and terrorism financing.
The Treasury has spent the last decade developing a framework to combat terrorism financing that “mitigates illicit finance risks while promoting responsible innovation,” Nelson stated in his prepared statement.
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF reaches 100K BTC.
BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), has more than 100,000 BTC under management. According to BlackRock’s official data, IBIT had 105,280 BTC on February 13.
On the 22nd day of trading, the iShares Bitcoin Trust became the first spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States to achieve 100,000 BTC in managed assets, joining nine other spot Bitcoin ETFs, excluding the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC).
The news represents a key milestone in BlackRock’s aggressive BTC purchase since the firm and ten other issuers debuted its spot Bitcoin ETF on January 11, 2024.
BlackRock has boosted the iShares Bitcoin Trust’s holdings by more than 3,700% since introducing IBIT in January, with assets under management growing from only 2,621 BTC on Jan. 11 to 100,000 BTC on Feb. 13.
Uniswap founder warns about ENS wallet impersonation scheme
Hayden Adams, the founder of Uniswap, a decentralized exchange (DEX), has cautioned the crypto community about a scam involving wallet addresses as Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains.
On February 14, Adams posted a warning on X about scammers mimicking his Ethereum wallet. The executive stated that the scammers duplicated and registered his wallet address as an ENS wallet with.eth.
Furthermore, the Uniswap founder stated that putting his wallet address into some user interfaces will yield an ENS match unrelated to his address as the top search result.
The hoax appears to be intended to confuse digital asset senders, who may inadvertently send their crypto to the incorrect address rather than the actual receiver. Adams recommended user interfaces to filter out such addresses to prevent losses from the attack vector.
While the scam vector appears to be fresh, Taylor Monahan, the founder of Ethereum wallet management MyCrypto, stated in a post that the identical scam vector was utilized in the early days of the MyEtherWallet service. Monahan further stated that it broke registrations and resolutions for names starting with “0x” at the time.
ENS creator and main developer Nick Johnson also remarked on the scam vector, stating that interface names should not be autocompleted. The developer stated that this was “far too dangerous” and that ENS recommends against it in its user experience guidelines.
