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CFTC acting chair announces roundtables on crypto market structure

Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham said the commission planned to go “back to basics,” also suggesting the regulator would explore regulatory safeguards.

Caroline Pham, acting chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has announced the agency will be holding public roundtable discussions on market issues, including those related to digital assets.

In a Jan. 27 notice, the CFTC said the commission would be scheduling roundtable events “over the next several months,” dealing with conflicts of interest, prediction markets and digital assets. According to the acting chair, the discussions would follow engagement with industry leaders and market participants.

“The CFTC will get back to basics by hosting staff roundtables that will develop a robust administrative record with studies, data, expert reports, and public input,” said Pham.

“A holistic approach to evolving market trends will help to establish clear rules of the road and safeguards that will promote US economic growth and American competitiveness.”

The announcement came less than a week after CFTC commissioners voted for Pham to be the regulator’s acting chair following the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

Pham has been serving as a CFTC commissioner since April 2022. It’s unclear at the time of publication whom Trump intends to nominate to serve as chair.

Former CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam, who stepped down from his position on Jan. 20, will remain at the commission until Feb. 7. In one of his final statements as head of the regulator, he urged policymakers to address regulatory gaps on crypto.

New administration, new approach to crypto?
The CFTC’s authority to regulate crypto could change should US lawmakers in Congress move forward with legislation to differentiate how the agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission handle digital assets.

One of the proposed market structure bills, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century, passed the House of Representatives in May 2024 and is expected to go to the Senate for a vote.

Trump nominated former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins to replace Gary Gensler as chair of the commission, which had three out of five members serving at the time of publication.

Until Atkins’ Senate nomination hearing and potential confirmation, SEC commissioner Mark Uyeda will likely be serving as acting chair.

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Bitcoin price fell below $98,000 with heavy selling

Bitcoin price fell to $97,754 as crypto and stock markets digested the significance of a China-based ChatGPT AI competitor called DeepSeek.

Bitcoin
BTC
$102,077
experienced a surprising 7% correction on Jan. 27, briefly dropping below $98,000 for the first time in over 10 days. Regardless of the factors driving this movement,

Bitcoin’s price is struggling to reclaim the $100,000 support level, prompting traders to question whether the bullish momentum has dissipated.

Bitcoin derivatives metrics remained stable despite the $7,320 price drop to $97,754, suggesting that whales and arbitrage desks were prepared for the downturn. However, stablecoin metrics from Chinese markets indicate that cryptocurrency demand in the region remains subdued.

Bitcoin futures and options markets displayed resilience
The Bitcoin futures annualized premium, which measures how monthly contracts trade relative to the spot market, provides a key insight into leverage demand. Premium levels between 5% and 10% are considered neutral, while values above this range reflect optimism.

Despite Bitcoin’s temporary dip to its lowest level in 10 days, the BTC futures premium consistently stayed above the 10% neutral threshold.

This suggests no signs of panic selling or significant demand for bearish leveraged positions (shorts).

Similarly, Bitcoin options skew, which measures the price difference between call (buy) and put (sell) options, was largely unaffected by the price drop. In neutral markets, the 25% delta skew typically ranges between -6% and +6%, with values below that indicating bullish sentiment.

The BTC options skew briefly shifted from -7% to -2%, moving out of bullish territory. However, professional traders quickly adjusted their positions, bringing the metric back to -6%,

near the boundary of a neutral-to-bullish market. More importantly, the dip below $98,000 did not trigger excessive downside hedging demand, demonstrating resilience in the derivatives market.

Bitcoin and crypto market sentiment remains cautious
To assess whether sentiment is limited to Bitcoin derivatives, it is crucial to analyze stablecoin demand in China. When traders exit cryptocurrency markets, USD Tether
USDT
$0.9998
typically trades at a discount to the official Yuan exchange rate. Conversely, during bull runs, stablecoins can trade at a 1.5% or higher premium.

Currently, USD Tether is trading at a 0.7% discount to the official USD/CNY rate, signaling moderate selling pressure. However, this represents an improvement from recent days when USDT traded at a

1.5% discount. This trend has been noticeable since Jan. 19, shortly after Bitcoin reclaimed the $105,000 level, following 30 days below this resistance.

Data from derivatives markets shows that professional traders remain cautiously optimistic and relatively comfortable with Bitcoin above $100,000. However, overall cryptocurrency demand in China remains weak. Likely, external factors are weighing on sentiment.

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Bitcoin ‘extremely bullish’ as traders gear up for next BTC price pump

BTC price woes are increasingly a thing of the past after Bitcoin recovers the majority of its DeepSeek dip.

Bitcoin
BTC
$101,971
is a “buy” again after reclaiming $102,000 during the DeepSeek US stocks rout.

In a post on X on Jan. 28, Andre Dragosch, European head of research at asset management firm Bitwise, called BTC price action “extremely bullish.”

BTC price action “outperformed” Nasdaq
Bitcoin is beating stock markets on intraday timeframes, showing resilience in the face of mass uncertainty over the US’ prowess in the AI sector.

BTC/USD has gained more than $5,000 since its local lows of $97,750 on Jan. 27, putting it firmly in contrast to both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100. These closed the latest trading session down 1.5% and 3%, respectively.

Even as concerns over DeepSeek continued with the announcement of another DeepSeek AI tool, the Janus-Pro-7B image generator, Bitcoin bulls held the six-figure mark.

“The fact that Bitcoin stabilised while the NASDAQ continued to slide is extremely bullish imo,” Dragosch thus reacted.

“Bitcoin also outperformed the NASDAQ over the past 2 trading days. Bitcoin already showing limited downside here.”

The increasing divergence between crypto and stocks is also apparent in sentiment data. According to the Fear & Greed Index, an atmosphere of “fear” currently prevails across the latter with a score of 39/100.

Meanwhile, the Index’s crypto equivalent measures 72/100, closing in on “extreme greed” territory.

Among them is Keith Alan, co-founder of trading resource Material Indicators, who confirmed that he had scaled into the market on the bounce.

“That wick to $97,750 should not shake your confidence in this Bitcoin bull run, but it should remind you that a deep correction can, and most likely will, develop when the market gets over hyped,” he told X followers.

Alan referenced one of Material Indicators’ proprietary trading tools showing positive signals for price direction.

“Recovering the 21-Day Moving Average before the D candle close was a positive sign, and the new Trend Precognition signal is an

indication that BTC is likely to continue consolidating in this range before the next explosive move develops,” he continued.

Popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital is equally optimistic, arguing that the bull market is far from at its peak by historical standards.

“It is still relatively early on in the BTC Parabolic Phase of this cycle,” he reiterated.

“Historically, this phase has lasted on average ~300 days. Bitcoin is on Day 82 of its Parabolic Phase.”

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Here’s what happened in crypto today

Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.

Today, in crypto, Turkey’s new cryptocurrency regulations mandate that users provide identification for transactions over 15,000 Turkish lira ($425), starting Feb. 25, 2025.

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF has seen its biggest-ever outflow just before Christmas. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy called a special shareholders meeting to fund its $42 billion Bitcoin acquisition plan.

Turkey introduces stricter crypto AML regulations
Turkey introduced new cryptocurrency regulations inspired by positive regulatory developments in the world’s major jurisdictions, including Europe.

Under the new regime, users executing transactions of more than 15,000 Turkish lira ($425) will be required to share their identifying information with the country’s crypto service providers,

according to a Dec. 25 document issued by the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey.

Crypto service providers are not required to collect information for digital asset transfers below the $425 threshold. Turkey’s new regulations are set to go into effect on Feb. 25, 2025.

IBIT sees record bleed on Christmas Eve
BlackRock’s Bitcoin
BTC
tickers down
$98,706
exchange-traded fund (ETFs) saw its largest-ever single-day outflow on Dec. 24 amid the fourth straight trading day of outflows for the 12 United States Bitcoin funds.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) hit $188.7 million in outflows on Christmas Eve, beating its previous record outflow day of $72.7 million set just days earlier on Dec. 20, per CoinGlass data.

All 12 US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw joint total outflows hit $338.4 million on the day and have seen joint net outflows of $1.52 billion in the trading days since Dec. 19.

The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) was the only one to see a pre-Christmas inflow of $8.5 million.

The Ether
ETH
tickers down
$3,494.92
ETFs, meanwhile, have seen continued momentum with a second day of inflows totaling $53.6 million, coming after a $130.8 million inflow on Dec. 23.

MicroStrategy calls shareholders meeting to fund more Bitcoin purchases
MicroStrategy has called a special shareholders meeting to seek approval for increasing its authorized shares to support its $42 billion Bitcoin acquisition plan, known as the 21/21 Plan.

The proposal includes increasing the number of authorized shares for both Class A common stock and preferred stock to provide more flexibility for future equity issuances.

Since October, MicroStrategy has significantly accelerated its Bitcoin purchases, acquiring 42,162 BTC in December alone. As of Dec. 22, the company owned over 444,000 BTC, valued at approximately $43.5 billion at current prices.

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Ethereum fees poised for rebound amid L2, blob uptick

In November, L2s have been posting some 3x more transaction data each day to the mainnet than they did in March.

Ethereum’s network revenues are poised to rebound as surging activity on layer-2 (L2) scaling networks drives demand for data

storage, according to cryptocurrency researchers and onchain data.

In November, Ethereum L2s have been posting upward of three times more transaction data each day to the mainnet than they did in March, according to data from Dune Analytics.

Ethereum’s revenues dropped by as much as 95% after the network’s March Dencun upgrade migrated L2 transaction data to temporary

offchain stores called “blobs” in a bid to cut costs for users, according to data from asset manager VanEck.

“ETH Fees Were Weak Due to Lack of Blob Revenues as L2s Have Not Filled Available Capacity,” Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital asset research, said in a Nov. 1 post on the X platform.

“There is Some Evidence this is Changing, thanks to Base, Scroll and World Chain,” Sigel said, referring to three popular L2s.

In September, Sigel said he expects Ethereum to generate up to $66 billion in annual free cash flow by 2030, driving spot Ether’s price as high as $22,000 per Ether
ETH
tickers down
$2,948.18
token.

His estimate reflects anticipated value accrual to ETH holders from transaction fees as Ethereum processes a growing portion of the world’s transactions.

“Ethereum processed roughly $4 trillion in settlement value over the last year and another $5 trillion in stablecoin transfers annually. So this is far bigger than PayPal and is beginning to approach networks like Visa,” Sigel said.

Since launching in 2015, Ethereum has generated $3 billion in fees (denominated in ETH), Sigel said.

Other ETH value accrual mechanisms include “burning” — or permanently removing from circulation — a portion of transaction

fees and emitting new ETH to reward stakers, who post ETH as collateral to secure the network.

On Nov. 6, ETH prices spiked 10% after crypto-friendly Republican Donald Trump prevailed in the United States presidential elections.

Meanwhile, US spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw net inflows of $52.3 million, the highest in six weeks.

Trump’s victory in the presidential election could pave the way for more crypto investing products to hit the US markets, including the

first staked ETH ETFs, according to Edward Wilson, an analyst at Nansen.

Other protocols are competing against Ethereum in data availability. They include Celestia, EigenDA and Avail, among others.

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TeraWulf sells its 25% stake in Nautilus Cryptomine for $92M

TeraWulf said it will use the proceeds to buy cheaper Bitcoin miners and expand its AI and high-performance computing streams.

Bitcoin mining firm TeraWulf sold its stake in a 200 megawatt Bitcoin mining facility to its partner, Talen Energy, for $92 million — and said the proceeds will go toward AI and Bitcoin mining.

“This transaction allows TeraWulf to achieve a 3.4x return on its investment in Nautilus,” TeraWulf said in an Oct. 3 statement.

TeraWulf intends to reinvest much of the $92 million in building a 20-megawatt facility for hosting AI and high-performance computing data centers at its Lake Mariner base in western New York and buy more Bitcoin (BTC) miners.

“[It will] provide significant capital to invest into our HPC/AI infrastructure and capitalize on our favorably structured miner purchase agreement to upgrade our mining fleet at a discount to the current market price.”

TeraWulf said the move will lower its cost-to-mine and improve overall profitability while allowing the firm to maintain its commitment to predominantly utilizing zero-carbon energy.

The $92 million comprises $85 million in cash and 30,000 Talen-contributed miners and related equipment — valued at $7 million.

The firm is also looking to finish its “MB-5” Bitcoin mining building, which TeraWulf says may help lift its operating hashrate to 13 exahashes per second before March 31, 2025.

“This transaction underscores TeraWulf’s dedication to operational efficiency, cost management, and long-term shareholder value,

while also demonstrating proactive risk management.”

In July, TeraWulf told Cointelegraph that it was open to a merger to boost its operating hashrate but wouldn’t do so for the sake of “empire building.”

TeraWulf said it was focused on “organic growth” at its existing sites and shareholder returns.

Google Finance data shows that TeraWulf’s (WULF) share price rallied 8% to $4.71 on Oct. 3.

 

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Infinex NFTs top $40M sales in first four days, despite NFT bear market

The Framework Ventures-backed platform has surpassed $150 million in TVL, despite a wider downtrend in the NFT market.

Infinex’s latest non-fungible token (NFT) collection has amassed over $40 million worth of sales within the first four days despite the sluggish performance of the top NFT collections.

Infinex is a non-custodial platform offering easy access to onchain protocol and decentralized applications (DApps).

The platform’s new Patron NFT collection surpassed $40 million in sales within the first four days, according to an announcement shared exclusively with Cointelegraph.

According to Kain Warwick, the working group lead at Infinex Core, the NFT collection is expected to attract even more investor interest. Warwick wrote:

“The first phase of the Patron Sale has been incredibly exciting with major foundations, VC firms and angels joining, but the next waves are even more critical as we expand to the wider community.”

Over 74% of the Patron NFTs have already been sold, with just six days remaining from the NFT sale.

The $40 million sale comes during a significant market downturn for the wider NFT market. Some of the most popular blue-chip NFTs

are down over 74% from their peak valuations.

Infinex surpasses $150 million TVL peak
Infinex surpassed $150 million in total value locked (TVL) on July 25, thanks to its ongoing “launch season,” which attracted an additional $100 million in TVL within the first 10 days of the campaign.

Patron NFTs come in three tiers, costing either $5,000, $3,000, or $1,250, with the latter NFT being locked for 12 months from the

distribution date, meaning that they won’t be transferable until they gradually unlock.

Early-stage participants of the NFT sale include Framework Ventures, Wintermute, Wormhole Foundation, and Variantm, as well as prominent crypto figures such as Sergej Kunz, the co-founder of 1inch Network.

Infinex aims to replace centralized cryptocurrency platforms as the main point of contact for new crypto users.

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Nigeria’s SEC to crack down on unregulated crypto exchanges

Nigeria’s SEC will enforce regulations on unregulated crypto businesses as it aims to protect investors and encourage innovation in the growing market.

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to start enforcement actions against businesses and individuals involved in unregulated cryptocurrency transactions.

Emomotimi Agama, the director-general of Nigeria’s SEC, announced that Nigeria would be taking action against entities attempting to offer cryptocurrency services without proper regulation, according to a report by the local news agency Nairametrics on Sept. 9.

Agama emphasized that the measures align with the SEC’s commitment to protect investors, including those involved in the crypto industry. He stated:

“We are certainly going to commence enforcement actions on anyone who wants to operate in this market without the intention of being regulated. For those that do not want to play by the books, we will not allow them to operate within our space.”

Only two crypto exchanges are currently regulated in Nigeria
The SEC’s statement comes about two weeks after the Nigerian securities regulator issued the first provisional operating licenses to the two local crypto exchanges, Busha Digital and Quidax Technologies, on Aug. 29.

While there are a number of other SEC-approved businesses related to digital assets in Nigeria, Busha and Quidax are currently the only two exchanges officially supervised by the authority, according to its website.

According to Agama, the recent approvals of Busha and Quidax in Nigeria were driven by young Nigerians’

growing interest in digital assets. The official stressed the need for a clear regulatory framework that protects investors while encouraging innovation.

He mentioned that the SEC’s supervision of crypto will include checks related to Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism protocols.

Inconsistency and lack of clarity in Nigeria’s crypto regulations
Industry observers agree that Nigeria’s approach to regulating cryptocurrency transactions has been somewhat unclear and inconsistent despite emerging as one of the world’s major crypto markets.

In early 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) placed a blanket ban on crypto by prohibiting all financial institutions from servicing crypto exchanges in the country.

One year later, the Nigerian SEC published a regulatory framework targeting crypto exchanges.

In late 2023, the CBN officially lifted the ban on transacting in cryptocurrencies but subsequently pushed new regulations that aim to restrict peer-to-peer crypto exchange using the national currency, the Nigerian naira, in May 2024.

Global exchanges like Binance have also faced action from Nigerian regulators.

Despite Binance announcing its exit from Nigeria in March 2024, local law enforcement did not release its executives, including Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, Tigran Gambaryan.

Gambaryan has been detained for over six months since his arrest in February as he awaits the court’s decision on bail, which is expected in Octobe

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Oppo Reno 5 series won’t be coming to Europe, company confirms

Oppo has unveiled the Reno 5 range of phones, but if you were hoping to be able to buy them and you live in Europe, it seems you’re out of luck.

In a statement to TechRadar the company said: “This is to confirm the Reno 5 won’t be coming to Europe.”

Presumably, that applies to the entire Reno 5 range (meaning the Oppo Reno 5, Oppo Reno 5 Pro, and Oppo Reno 5 Pro Plus), though the wording leaves that slightly ambiguous.

These are the best Oppo phones
Read our full Oppo Find X2 Pro review
Take a look at the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom
Only in China?
The only place that we know the Oppo Reno 5 range is set to land so far is China,

and with the company not typically bringing its phones to the US we can pretty much count a US launch out, though there’s still some hope for Australia.

While it’s a shame not to have the Oppo Reno 5 range available in Europe, it’s perhaps not a huge loss,

as these phones sound quite similar to the Oppo Reno 4 and Oppo Reno 4 Pro, both of which launched earlier in 2020 and are available in the UK.

And for those who want a higher-end Oppo phone, there’s always the Oppo Find X2 range, and the upcoming Oppo Find X3. So there’s no shortage of Oppo handsets that you can buy.

 

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Tello Mobile Review: 5 Things To Know Before You Sign Up

If you’re looking for a great deal on a new phone plan, Tello Mobile is one to consider.

In this Tello review, I’ll take a close look at Tello’s plans and pricing, how to get started, and what to expect from Tello’s service.

I tested Tello Mobile for 30 days to try out the service myself. I’ve also compared more than 70 different available phone plans to see how Tello holds up.

This article was updated in May 2024 and I review it every 12 months. Detailed notes on all updates can be found here.

What To Know Before Signing Up for Tello Mobile
Tello Mobile is an affordable prepaid cell phone service provider that runs on T-Mobile’s network, also known as a T-Mobile MVNO.

Plans from Tello Mobile begin as low as $5 per month, but this plan doesn’t include any high-speed data. However, you can get 1GB of high-speed data plus unlimited talk and text for $9 per month, which has won Tello the title of the cheapest monthly cell phone plan on Clark.com.

I tested out Tello’s 1GB plan for 30 days to explore its coverage, call and text performance, customer service and more.

1. Plans and Pricing
Tello Mobile recently expanded its plan selection to include seven different high-speed data options. Each high-speed data option can be paired with no minutes, 100 minutes, 300 minutes, 500 minutes,

or unlimited minutes. All of Tello Mobile’s plans include unlimited texting and mobile hotspot capabilities.

Here are Tello’s plan options with unlimited minutes:

2. Activation Process
Purchasing a Tello Mobile phone plan and activating the service is very easy to do. I recently signed up myself to try out the service for a full month.

To get started, I visited Tello’s website and chose the Economy plan (at the time, the plan cost $10/month for 1GB of high-speed data; now it costs $9).

You’ll have to log in to continue. Creating an account is simple and includes entering your email address, a password and a decision on whether or not you want to “stay in touch to get Tello’s best deals” throughout your service.

Once I’d logged in, I was able to review my order.

3. Call and Text Performance
Over 30 days, I tried out Tello Mobile’s service by making and receiving phone calls as well as sending and receiving text messages.

While I didn’t travel a lot during the month that I was testing Tello, I had consistently good service with no dropped calls or undelivered text messages. Of course, this won’t be true for every area.

Tello Mobile runs on T-Mobile’s network and the map below indicates coverage in many areas of the United States.

To see if Tello Mobile offers coverage in your area, check out its coverage map.

4. Data Speeds
Tello Mobile offers access to T-Mobile’s 4G LTE/5G network. Based on my experience and T-Mobile’s coverage map, you’ll likely have consistent access to data with Tello Mobile.

To make sure you’ll have coverage before switching to Tello Mobile, be sure to enter your address on its coverage checker online. You can also look at T-Mobile’s coverage map to get a better idea of the service in your area since they run on the same towers.