Cryptocurrencies fall; Bitcoin tries to consolidate at the $16,200 level
There are widespread falls in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped 2% in the last 24 hours and is trying to consolidate at $16,200, while Ethereum (ETH) has retreated nearly 4% and loses the $1,200 it conquered at the end of last week.
"Traders are finding solace in the news that some people, such as Changpeng Zhao (CEO of Binance), are dedicating more money to the ecosystem by increasing the size of the bailout fund by another billion," explained Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade. As Zhao himself explained about networks, the fund would be used to help cryptocurrency projects in a liquidity crisis following the FTX crash. Zhao showed his optimism with the sector's outlook, assuring on his Twitter account that "it's not the end of 'cryptos'". "Far from it. It's the beginning of a new chapter," he added.
Likewise, Binance's founder announced in a Bloomberg interview that his firm will make a $1 billion offer to acquire Voyager, the cryptoasset broker that went bankrupt last July. The offer of the world's largest exchange will last for six months, time that Zhao estimates it will take the crypto market to recover from the current crisis, and that he is willing to increase the offer if it is not enough.
Binance's offer comes after FTX is unable to meet its obligations to rescue Voyager, as Sam Bankman-Fried's bankrupt exchange won an auction precisely with Binance to acquire Voyager after its bankruptcy.
Zhao also claimed that FTX and Bankman-Fried deliberately spread rumors that Binance's acquisition of Voyager posed a threat to U.S. national security because of the world's largest exchange's alleged ties to China, a relationship Zhao strongly denied during the interview. "I think the U.S. national security concerns are rumors spread by FTX to try to push us away from candidacy. There was never any concern about our participation in the auction," he stated, while noting that Binance operates fully under U.S. regulation.
On the other hand, an "inside joke" among important personalities of the 'crypto' sector such as Vitalik Buterin or Justin Sun about a possible insolvency of 'wrapped Ethereum' (wETH) caused massive sales of Ethereum and other 'tokens'. Following the fear and doubts introduced in the market, many users are trying to explain that wETH cannot be insolvent as it will always be exchangeable in a 1:1 ratio with ETH.
In other market news, Binance coin (BNB) drops nearly 6%. Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC) and Polkadot (DOT) fall almost 4%. Litecoin(LTC) retreats 6% and Solana (SOL) drops another 6%, and continues its terrible streak since the FTX bankruptcy.