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ADA outshines top 10 cryptos, analyst expects it to reach $0.68

Key points:

• Analyst predicts ADA could reach $0.68 based on technical analysis and recent performance.

• Trading volume surge indicates increased buyer interest.

News - Cardano holders may have reason to celebrate if predictions from crypto analyst Ali Martinez come to fruition. Martinez suggests that ADA's price could soon reach $0.68, citing technical patterns observed on the daily chart.

The analyst identified a descending triangle on ADA's daily chart, a pattern typically indicating the end of a downtrend. He believes a closing price above $0.53 would validate this bullish thesis, potentially leading to consolidation followed by a series of higher highs.

More bullish signals? Adding to the optimism, ADA experienced a remarkable 10% surge in the last 24 hours, outperforming all other top 10 cryptocurrencies. While BNB rose by 4.04% and SOL climbed 6.70%, none came close to ADA's double-digit gain.

Despite the price surge, Cardano's Social Dominance dropped to 0.596%, suggesting potential for further price increase. Moreover, Cardano's trading volume skyrocketed, reaching 599.29 million from 269.25 million within a day. This significant increase, alongside the rising price, indicates growing buyer interest, potentially pushing ADA toward $0.68.

New Ethereum standard ERC-404 aims to combine Fungible and Nonfungible tokens

Key points:

• ERC-404 proposes a hybrid token standard combining fungible and non-fungible assets.

• The standard is experimental and unofficial, raising concerns about safety and vulnerabilities.

News - A group of developers is pushing forward with an unofficial and experimental Ethereum standard known as "ERC-404," aimed at creating a hybrid of fungible and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). It hasn't been approved by the Ethereum community and lacks an official audit. With its unorthodox name, experimental nature, and lack of official certification, the project is sparking both excitement and concern.

What’s the benefit? ERC-404 seeks to combine the technology behind ERC-20 tokens (fungible) with ERC-721 (non-fungible, like individual NFTs). This could enable "fractionalized NFTs," where multiple wallets own portions of a single NFT, like a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) asset. This opens up possibilities for trading and staking fractions of valuable NFTs.

Any concern? A developer going by the name "quit" warned that NFTs using ERC-404 could be susceptible to theft due to potential issues with lending protocols. However, "Ctrl," an ERC-404 developer, downplayed these concerns, attributing them to improper usage in certain contracts.

Despite the controversy, ERC-404 is gaining traction. Crypto wallets from major exchanges like Binance and OKX have announced support, and the Pandora token launched with the standard has seen massive gains. Even so, questions about its long-term viability and potential risks remain.

Arbitrum's Total Value Locked (TVL) hits record high, surpasses $2.7B

Key points:

• The Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP) appears to be driving growth in TVL.

• Arbitrum’s long-term success depends on attracting more developers and maintaining user engagement.

News - Four months after launching its Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP), Arbitrum has reached another all-time high in Total Value Locked, reaching $2.7 billion according to a recent analysis. This metric, indicating the overall health of a DeFi protocol, suggests growing confidence and liquidity within the ecosystem.

STIP drives growth - Launched in October 2023, STIP aimed to stimulate ARB usage and attract liquidity. The program appears to be paying off, with TVL increasing 9.85% in the last 30 days, surpassing Optimism and zkSync Era to become the most valuable Layer 2 chain. A supplementary budget expansion in December further fueled this growth by drawing in additional projects, developers, and users.

Development activity and user engagement - Despite the TVL surge, concerns exist around development activity and user engagement. On-chain data shows a recent decline in development activity from 8.50 to 7.35, and active addresses have dropped from 36,000 to 17,200. While increased liquidity and developer attraction could improve these metrics in the long term, maintaining user engagement remains crucial.

Do Kwon's extradition decision overturned by Montenegro appeals court

Key points:

• Do Kwon's extradition to the US is overturned due to procedural errors.

• Kwon remains detained in Montenegro with an extended detention period.

News - Do Kwon, co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency project Terraform Labs, has won a reprieve as the Appeals Court of Montenegro overturned his extradition to the United States. This decision comes after his legal team successfully appealed the original ruling by the High Court.

Procedural errors cited - The Appeals Court cited procedural errors by the High Court as the reason for the reversal. The High Court allegedly lacked the authority to approve extradition and failed to properly consider the timing of extradition requests from both the US and South Korea. This breach of standards ultimately invalidated the decision.

Competing requests - Both the US and South Korea have charged Kwon with financial crimes related to the Terraform Labs collapse. The Appeals Court's decision throws the jurisdiction question wide open, as it did not address which country holds the stronger claim for extradition.

In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted Kwon's request to delay his trial until mid-March to allow for his potential in-person attendance.

More stories from the crypto ecosystem

• Bitcoin: Analyst explains why it’s still not too late to buy BTC at $45,000

• Staked Ethereum hits 25% of total supply – Can it help ETH’s price?

• Unpacking LINK’s 40% hike – What analysts have to say

• Jupiter rises 13%, joins Solana in price recovery- How?

• Will Pyth’s $48M airdrop lead to a sudden price surge

Crypto scams uncovered

• BitConnect lured users with promises of high returns on unbeatable trading but turned out to be a $4 billion Ponzi scheme. Users lent crypto, received investment payments, and then watched it all crash. They even launched a second scam, BitconnectX, before disappearing.

• Inspired by Squid Game, $SQUID promised play-to-earn riches. But like a real-life rug pull," creators cashed out, leaving investors with worthless tokens after a meteoric rise and crash. In merely seconds, the fraudsters ran away with $3.3 million.

• Quadriga, Canada's once-trusted crypto giant, crashed amidst fraud accusations. Founder Cotten, holding sole access to $250M in user funds, died mysteriously in India. Most people don’t believe he died and only faked his death.

Top 3 coins of the day

Ethereum Classic (ETC)

Key points:

• The Total Value Locked (TVL) on the Ethereum Classic blockchain reached its all-time high (ATH) at $1.48 on 9 December.

• The development activity fell in the month of January.

What you should know - Starting in January, ETC has had good buying pressure on average. The altcoin has held its strong support near $22, and liquidity dominated in the $25-$23 zone. The bulls put up a strong resistance near the $30 mark. However, zooming in on the 1-D chart, one can observe that the coin is registering a correction in its price move. Technical indicators were skewed more toward the bullish side. Consider the reading of RSI, for instance, it stood at the 60 mark pointing upwards. A further price appreciation can be expected before a drawdown.

Kaspa (KAS)

Key points:

• Out of the top 35 coins, KAS had the highest gain in the 7-D period.

• Its volume was 15.85% down over the last day. Thus, raising concerns among the investors.

What you should know - At the time of press, KAS was trading at $0.1342 with a 31.39% increase over the last week. Traders weren’t found booking profits, in fact, they resorted to HODLing. On the technical side though, things looked a bit bearish - the coin was trading in the overbought territory and a sudden fall in prices could be expected soon. Interestingly enough, the project started getting traction only after 4 November, before that the price movement was almost negligible and so was the volume of the trades. In the past week, KAS saw a huge volume on 7 February. Thus, signifying that traders had faith in the network.

Filecoin (FIL)

Key points:

• Technical indicators hinted at a possible price appreciation in the near future.

• On a macro-frame, FIL has majorly been trading within a tight range for almost two years now.

What you should know- Filecoin has been the talk of the crypto town, especially, since DePIN sector is picking up its pace. The coin, however, has been doing relatively better on the lower timeframe. At press time, it was on its way to approaching the local top of $7. Bearish pressure, if ensued, could see the coin go down to its support level of $4. MACD line was well-positioned for an upward movement. A price rise, hence, could be on the cards soon. Short-sellers might not have good leverage in the market given the short-term price trend.