The Crypto market is a never-stagnant, ever-moving one. To be at a point of advantage, one must stay current. This article brings you crypto news and updates from the crypto market.

Cryptocurrencies have piqued the interest and imagination of a new generation of investors worldwide.

There’s little doubt that the volatile and fast-moving crypto business puts participants, onlookers, and regulators on edge, from Bitcoin to Ethereum to the swelling list of altcoins.

However, mainstream firms are increasingly looking to cryptocurrencies and related technologies to enter new markets—or to establish them entirely in new, virtual worlds.

Sit tight for some crypto news and updates;

Top Crypto News and Updates

Some of the top crypto news and updates are;

Metis (METIS) Token Surges 50%
Fake crypto website on Google ads
zkSync Era resolves network glitch
STC price prediction

Metis (METIS) Token Surges 50%

METIS, the native cryptocurrency of the layer 2 network Metis, has increased by up to 50%, owing to the excitement surrounding a recently announced grant that is making the rounds in the crypto world.

Fake Crypto Websites on Google Ads Drain $3 Million in Christmas Phishing Scam

This holiday season, scammers developed phony versions of famous cryptocurrency platforms and utilized Google Ads to drive victims to their phishing sites, emptying $3 million in cryptocurrency into their wallets.

According to research, the MS Drainer service permitted massive crypto theft via fraudulent advertising.

zkSync Era, Resolves Network Glitch Triggered by Automated Safety Check

The zkSync development team recently addressed and repaired a network fault in the zkSync Era platform with “no funds at risk,” according to a post by zkSync Development.

According to the development team, the network outage in the zkSync Era platform happened on December 25 at 05:50 UTC. Following the incident, the protocol stopped working for a few hours.

According to the development team, the problem was caused by an unanticipated activation of an automated safety mechanism that is part of the network’s security procedures.

STX Price Prediction: After 126% Price Jump in December.

Stacks (STX) had a stunning 126% price increase in December of this year, capturing the attention of investors and traders.

The coin is trading at $1.49, up 2.56% in the last day. The token has increased by 560% in the previous year.

STX is the 40th largest cryptocurrency in the market, with a market cap of more than $2 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The cryptocurrency has a $298,896,781 24-hour trading volume, a circulating supply of 1,429,445,910 STX coins, and a maximum supply of 1,818,000,000 coins.

As we look ahead to 2024, it’s critical to evaluate the elements that could influence STX’s price and make an educated guess about where it might go.

What’s Trending in Crypto Today?

Next, on crypto news and updates, we bring you trending topics in the crypto market. Some of them are;

Crypto ETF approval
Taxes for crypto
Bitcoin to remain under pressure
Increase in layer 2 smart contracts
Web 3.0 to enter mainstream
Crypto to continue driving the adoption of green energy

Crypto ETF Approval

The first Bitcoin ETF appeared on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, marking a significant milestone. The development is a new and more traditional method of investing in cryptocurrency.

Investors can acquire cryptocurrency directly from regular investing brokerages using the BITO Bitcoin ETF. This can be done from existing accounts such as Fidelity or Vanguard.

However, other experts argue that the BITO ETF needs to be revised because it may not own the cryptocurrency directly, even though the fund is linked to Bitcoin. The fund holds Bitcoin futures contracts.

According to experts, while Bitcoin futures follow the overall patterns of the actual cryptocurrency, they may not accurately mirror the price of Bitcoin. As a result, investors may wish to continue waiting for a Bitcoin ETF.

The SEC has previously examined ETF approval in this setting, but BITO is the first to receive support. Investing in a crypto ETF like BITO is equally dangerous as any other cryptocurrency investment.

Taxes for Crypto

Another topic on crypto news and updates to discuss is the issue of taxes for crypto. Intuit and H&R Block create advertisements to make the public believe taxes are simple.

Yet, tax preparation corporations spend millions of dollars each year lobbying the government to make taxes more challenging to stay in business.

In many other nations, taxes are incredibly straightforward to pay—in Sweden, for example, they may be delivered via text message.

Tax complexity is produced in part by lobbying, in part by the cat-and-mouse game of closing loopholes, and, in the case of cryptocurrency, in part by new assets that are purchased, sold, and traded in unique ways.

Koinly is a cryptocurrency-focused tax software that assists customers with issues such as tax lots, airdrops, DeFi interest payments, and trades across various exchanges.

It sells its software to individual users and accountants requiring crypto assistance.

Koinly imports lists of transactions and generates the taxable revenue that results from them, saving users the time and effort of running the calculations themselves.

Charging, depending on the number of transactions, is one method by which the corporation maximizes profitability. This number has no bearing on Koinly’s costs.

Still, it’s an excellent way to identify clients who can buy the product—but probably can’t afford to spend hours manually navigating their numbers.

Koinly’s relationship with the rest of the tax business is one of service and lead generation: they recommend users to CPAs for complex instances.

With the rise of alternative assets such as bitcoin and NFTs, there is room for a tax preparation service to challenge the legacy incumbents in this $100 billion business, initially by solving particular problems and then expanding their service to include the entire tax preparation process.

Cryptocurrencies collectively have a market value of two trillion dollars.

Because the prices for most of them started close to zero and are highly volatile, many holders have significant capital gains—which means a healthy budget for doing their taxes and a lot of paperwork if they try to do their taxes themselves.

Bitcoin to Remain Under Pressure

This is the next issue for discussion on Crypto news and updates. Bitcoin may remain under pressure even after reaching a peak of over $70,000 in 2021.

The year began with Bitcoin reaching a high of $29,000. With the significant gains, speculators anticipate a downward trend in the heritage cryptocurrency in 2024.

Some experts believe Bitcoin will lose almost all its gains over the last year and a half. However, some experts believe Bitcoin will resume, with the cryptocurrency breaking the $100,000 level.

Increase in Layer 2 Smart Contracts

Layer 2 (L2) smart contracts are gaining popularity, and experts believe it is a trend that will continue. Bitcoin and Ethereum, for example, are classified as “Layer 1” cryptocurrencies since they feature a settlement layer.

Layer 1 blockchain networks, on the other hand, could be more scalable. As a result, it was considered that building a separate framework (i.e., Layer 2 smart contracts) on top of them would provide higher scalability.

Because they enable the indefinite scalability of cryptocurrencies, L2 smart contracts are essential for achieving mainstream cryptocurrency adoption.

Web 3.0 to Enter Mainstream

Next on crypto news and updates is the topic of Web 3.0. Web 3.0 is already making ripples, and the third generation of the Internet should be anticipated around 2024 and beyond.

Web 3.0 provides a long-term alternative for people who want to support their websites without relying on giant corporations that own servers or demand exorbitant fees.

One advantage of Web 3.0 is the ability to personalize the Internet. Furthermore, avoiding a single-point failure (for example, if a specific social website collapses, the activities will not be affected during the crash period).

Furthermore, the growing acceptability of Web 3.0 will benefit cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Livepeer, and Helium, as well as many other cryptos associated with the third generation of the Internet.

Crypto to Continue Driving the Adoption of Green Energy

Finally, we will look at the crypto and green energy trends on Crypto news and updates. Cryptocurrencies have come under fire for their harmful environmental impact.

Bitcoin mining, for example, emits an estimated 40 billion pounds of CO2 in the United States alone.

Because of the high carbon emissions, the Proof of Work (POW) requires the usage of fossil fuel-generated energy.

However, this is changing as emerging blockchain networks incorporate more environmentally friendly consensus techniques.

Surprisingly, continuous efforts to develop a more sustainable consensus mechanism have heavily influenced the acceptance of green energy.

Top 10 Crypto News Platforms

To continually stay infomed, here are some crypto platforms to follow up on;

CoinXposure.com
CoinDesk
UToday
Bankless
Decrypt
BeInCrypto
The Block
Blockworks
Bitcoin Magazine
Coin Bureau

Conclusion

Ultimately, there will be a great deal of speculation surrounding crypto. However, the fact remains that it is a new investment. That is why it is critical to keep an eye out for trends.

You may assist investors by providing a powerful cryptocurrency app as a business owner. The future of cryptocurrencies will be volatile, but the trends appear to be favorable, and the time is right to venture into the crypto world.

Crypto News and Updates: Staying Up-to-Date on the Latest Trends