The world of cryptocurrency is still full of events and discoveries. During the holidays, Binance managed to delist a number of pairs, as well as to join the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists. Ethereum developers decided on the contents of the next update aimed at taking ETH out of staking. Dune Analytics conducted a research and found out that only 20% of stacked ETH are profitable, and the rest are in the unprofitable zone.
Read about all of this news further in the article!
Another wave of delisting on Binance
Despite several rounds of delisting in December, Binance announced another wave on January 6. This time it will affect pairs ALPHA/BNB, ASTR/ETH, CELR/ETH, DAR/ETH, DOT/BIDR, FTM/BIDR, SAND/BIDR, SLP/BIDR. The pairs have not been available for trading since January 6.
The community believes this is still showing the impact of the recent Binance crisis. At that time, many users feared that the largest exchange could meet the fate of FTX and withdraw their assets.
Binance Joins the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (ACSS)
Binance joined the ACSS in order to “upholding the highest level of compliance amid a fast-evolving space” — said Chagri Poyraz, Binance’s Global Head of Sanctions. In addition, all sanctions compliance specialists, as well as anti-money laundering executives, will receive the appropriate training and access to the latest ACSS guidelines.
Those who complete the training will receive a certificate and upgrade their qualifications. This is supposed to allow Binance a higher quality compliance with legal regulations, as well as reduce the risks of violations in a number of jurisdictions.
Ethereum staking is not profitable
The fall in the value of the ETH ended up with only 20% of stakers making a profit on their investments. But those who invested their ETH at a price lower than the current one remains mostly in the profit zone. This statistic was announced by Dune Analytics.
It is noteworthy that a significant portion of the remaining coins in the profit zone is ETH, purchased at a price of $600. At the same time, over 80% of all ETHs were blocked at a price of over $1200.
In total, about 16 million ETHs have been staked so far, that's about 13.2% of all existing ETHs at the moment.
Shanghai Ethereum Update
The Shanghai update, which was introduced on the test network back in November, is due out in February 2023. The developers have decided that the update will only include features for the withdrawal of staked ETH.
If the update is successfully installed, users will be able to unlock and withdraw their ETH as early as March. Analysts warn about a possible drop in the ETH price amid the mass unlocking and sale of the coin.
Cryptocurrency encryption security threat
On December 23, Chinese scientists presented documents with the test results of a 10-qubit quantum computer. Based on the document, scientists were able to calculate a 48-bit RSA public key.
This RSA key is a public key of the cryptographic encryption algorithm. For now, Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) is one of the most popular algorithms. It uses a private key for encryption and decryption and a public key for validation. However, due to the processing power of quantum computers, the algorithm's security is now in question.
At the moment, cracking a cryptocurrency key with the most sophisticated 2048-bit encryption is not possible. However, if someone could get a 50-100 qubit computer, it would be possible to crack it.
JPMorgan Chase, the banking giant, presented a study that described blockchain networks with protection against hacking by quantum computers due to quantum key distribution (QKD) technology. The algorithm detects and protects transactions from third parties that attempt to tamper with the exchange.
Afterword
In the meantime, we can keep an eye on Bitcoin, which, having probably bottomed last year, is entering a strong growth trend, increasing in value since early January.
At the same time, cryptocurrencies are increasingly becoming part of the familiar world. Polygon announced its partnership with Mastercard to create a Web3-focused incubator. The companies say they have big plans to promote cryptocurrencies and Web3 to the public, as well as various events, unique products and collaborations with artists.
That was all the big news. See you next week when we'll be back with more news!