Market Trend｜US Authorities Seize $460 Million In RobinHood Shares, The Indonesian Government Prepares To Launch Exchange

2023-01-06, 05:59

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In spite of the bear market, the past week has welcomed an influx of green candlesticks, with a vast array of currencies gaining momentum of up to 2%. A majority of the top 100 assets this week have been privy to this sentiment shift, as a result growing their value, with very few exceptions noting minor losses. This positive start to the new year has introduced a fresh sentiment to the market, one fuelled by recovery and the hopes that the bear market has come to a close. However, in spite of this growing positive sentiment, exploits have been rife and investigations have intensified, with investors losing millions of shares and cryptocurrency holdings in light of phishing attacks and the continued fallout from the FTX crash. However, taking a more positive slant within the institutional world is the Indonesian government’s confirmation of their upcoming cryptocurrency exchange, which comes in light of the continued efforts to improve blockchain adoption on a national scale. 
## The Latest News
### US Authorities Seize $460 Million In RobinHood Shares
The fallout of the FTX crash has been thwarted with scandal, allegations, and most infamously, Sam Bankman-Fried. As the FBI’s investigation into the misdemeanours that led to the exchange’s collapse ensues, it has been revealed that US prosecuters are now moving to seize $460 million worth of Robinhood shares linked to SBF, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) believing that the shares were not the property of the bankruptcy estate and that its ownership could be determined in a forfeiture proceeding.

As SBF awaits trial following a ‘not guilty’ plead to fraud charges, the DOJ have rolled out more information regarding the shares. It is believed that FTX cofounder, Gary Wang, formed a holding company called Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd. to purchase 56 million Robinhood shares using $546 million in loans from Alameda Research, the brokerage arm of FTX. In a bid to gain access to these shares, the bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi, and former FTX creditor Yonathon Ben Shimon, and SBF have all filed court actions in an attempt to gain control of the shares. However, FTX lawyers have previously requested that the shares remain frozen as the legal proceedings ensue.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1672983987001.png)
Sam Bankman-Fried (Image Courtesy of Bloomberg)
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### The Indonesian Government Prepares To Launch Exchange
With nations such as Italy, the United Kingdom, and El Salvador all recently having extensive discussions related to the regulation and adoption of cryptocurrencies, it comes as no surprise that another nation has joined the roster – with this being Indonesia. The Indonesian Financial sector is said to be undergoing an extensive reform that encompasses the cryptocurrency industry. Formerly, The Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti) has retained control ober cryptocurrency trading control, yet it has been reported that the FSA is set to gain control as the government prepares to unveil a crypto exchange later this year.

While little is yet known about what this exchange will offer to Indonesian citizens, it can be ascertained that with the FSA now heading up cryptocurrency regulation as opposed to the Bappebti that regulation and adoption will be a crucial focus of the new exchange. As of now, 388 cryptocurrencies and 10 local coins can be traded in Indonesia, with the Bappebti also evaluation a further 151 assets and another 10 local coins.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1672984079002.png)
Bappebti (Image Courtesy of CNBC Indonesia)
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### Wallet Drained Of $3.4 Million Worth OF GMX Tokens In Attack
Decentralised exchange, GMX, has recently come under fire as an anonymous DeFi user fell victim to a malicious phishing attack and lost $3.4 million in GMX tokens, the native token of the platform. Following the attack, the tokens were sold on the opem market. Confirming the incident via their Telegram group, an administrator for GMX stated that the incident had no relation to any security issues with the platform itself, alluding that the attack was as a result of malicious scammers. The team are now said to be in direct contact with the victim.

On-chain data has revealed that these tokens were drained at 7pm UTC and sent to an external wallet where they were then converted to ETH and bridged to the the Ethereum mainnet, according to data analysts at PeckShield. Malicious attacks have become ever more present in the crypto space, with two other happening alone today. Earlier today, a hacker stole $175,000 in NFTs via a phishing attack targeted the chief operating officer (CEO) at RTFKT, and another crypto investor lost four CryptoPunk NFTs worth more than $330,000.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1672984116003.png)
GMX (Image Courtesy of GMX)
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## Current Project Trends
Based on data provided by CoinMarketCap, a majority of the top-gaining projects across the past week have been based improving blockchain and institutional connectivity, as well as bolstering anonymity initiatives for traditional cryptocurrencies via wrapped equivalents on anonymous blockchains. These projects have been privy to immense gains of up to 300% and a significant influx in trading volume, likely as news circulates surrounding further institutional and governmental adoption of cryptocurrencies and as security concerns due to phishing attacks in the wider market increase.
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## The Current BTC Trend
Following the relatively horizontal price action from the previous week, BTC has finally broken through the $16,800 local resistance zone and is trading up by 1.38% across the past week. With price stagnation having led BTC into 2023, it appears to have finally broken free from these constraints and is trading significantly above its 7-day SMA at an unprecedented rate in comparison to Q4 of 2022. Having spiked to a weekly high of $16,964.59, [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) vied to enter the $17,000 region once again, with this now acting as the new resistance zone, as well as the price benchmark for those who are bullish-ly inclined. With previous weeks having progressively sunk BTC further into a bearish spiral, this moderate weekly increase could signal that for now, BTC is free from price stagnation and that it can begin to regain its footing in the wider market.

Following on from this positive movement, [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT)’s MVRV (market value to realised value) has increased across the past week, having entered the week at a low of 0.84. The MVRV has since reached a high of 0.855, signalling that whilst [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) still remains at a ‘possible market bottom’, it is progressively accruing value and moving more towards appropriately valued territory with the shift in sentiment. This change could signals that the current bear market plaguing BTC may be coming to a close. Yet, with [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) still trading below its realised value, this signals that [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) could be a worthy investment as it is still far from healthy valuation territory.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1672984184004.png)
BTC MVRV Data At The Start Of 2023 (Data Courtesy of Blockchain.com)
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## The State Of ETH Gas Fees
As of the 6th of January, there has been a moderate decrease in the total volume of gas used across the past week in comparison to the former, with the lowest figure attained on the5th, totalling 108,340,300,221. The highest figure attained this week was on the 1st, totalling 109,416,864,544, demonstrating an uptick from the close of 2022. Despite this small change in the volume of gas used, the current volume of gas used appears to be in line with current monthly trends.

As a result, Ethereum gas fee boundaries this week have taken a substantial incline from the week prior. The low gas boundaries were between 10-117 gwei, the average boundaries were between 10-1467 gwei, and the high boundaries were between 11-5437 gwei – demonstrating a vast disparity in gas fees across the past week.

Across the past 24 hours, the top ‘Gas Guzzlers’ according to Etherscan were Uniswap V3: Router 2 (with fees totalling $287,589.97 or 230.08 ETH), Seaport 1.1 (with fees totalling $275,322.60 or 220.26 ETH),  and XEN Crypto: XENT Token (with fees totalling $78,519.63 or 62.82 ETH) – thus demonstrating a significant increase from the previous week.

The estimated cost of transactions across the likes of OpenSea: Sale, Uniswap V3: Swap, and USDT: Transfer, has been suggested to be between $1.08 and $4.15, according to Etherscan.
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## The Current Macro Situation
### French Central Bank Governor Pushes For Crypto Licensing
With crypto remaining a hot topic ahead of the European Union’s decision on blockchain legislation, the Bank of France’s governor has called for more stringent licensing requirements for crypto companies operating in France. Stating that this is as a result of the current market climate and volatility, the governor has urged that France ‘shouldn’t wait’ for the upcoming EU crypto laws to enact obligatory licensing for digital asset service providers (DASPs). As of now, the EU’s set of crypto laws (called the MiCA) isn’t expected to come into force until sometime in 2024.
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## What Could Be Coming In The Week Ahead?
With the transition across the market from a neverending bearish spiral to one focused on regeneration, adoption, and justice, it could signal that the opening week to 2023 has established the primary focuses for the crypto market this year. The growing positive sentiment has evidently provided momentum to a variety of cryptocurrencies across the top 100, which could extend into the coming week and propel the wider market out of the bear market. 2023 has the potential to be a fresh start for crypto – yet time will only tell.

<div class="blog-details-info">
<div>Author: Gate.io Researcher: **Matthew Webster-Dowsing**
<div class="info-tips">\*This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
<div>\*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all other cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.
</div>