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In another week of the seemingly neverending bear market, several cryptocurrencies have continued to slide into a spiral of red candlesticks as price declines ensue marketwide. With declines ranging from 1% to over 10%, many of the top 100 assets have continued to shed trading volume, all while accruing bearish sentiments.

However, with this week marking some of the final days of 2022, exploits and hacks have become ever more topical as the FBI begins to crack down on the 3Commas Data Breach. Yet, a more positive discussion has begun as Kia’s first NFT collection sales have provided a testament to the real-world utility of blockchain and as Cardano's development has signalled that the future of blockchain has failed to be stunted despite the bear market.

## The Latest News
### FBI Begins Investigating 3Commas Data Breach

In a shocking data breach earlier this week, an anonymous party leaked a substantial 100,000 API keys connected to the cryptocurrency trading exchange, 3Commas. The Estonia-based trading service has come under fire in recent weeks amidst accusations of the CEO repeatedly ignoring warning signs that the platform had leaked user data. These concerns were proven to be true, as 100,000 Binance and KuCoin API keys linked to the platform were exposed, leading two various users coming forward to CoinDesk to reveal that they had been contacted by FBI agents from the Cincinnati Field Office in connection to the data breach.

Historically, 3Commas has been thwarted with issues, as several users have come forward across the past year stating that their funds had been traded away via linked wallets on external exchanges. However, 3Commas has always insisted that the users were mostly likely roped into phishing scams, attempting to alleviate concerns regarding the platform’s security. Yet, these claims have been refuted in the light of the API database leaker insinuating that the 3Commas keys had been sold internally, despite the standing CEO, Yuriy Sorokin, stressing that ‘no evidence’ was found to support the claims made by the leaker.

![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1672366951001.png)
FBI (Image Courtesy of OCCRP)
### Kia’s NFT Collection Covers 22,000 Animal Adoption Costs

In a collaboration with NFT development firm, Sweet, Kia unveiled their first NFT collection for charity earlier this year with the intention of supporting initiatives to alleviate stresses placed on overcrowded animal shelters in the USA. With the collection now sold and annual data released, it has been recorded that Kia raised a total of $100,000 for the non-profit organisation, Petfinder Foundation, by auctioning off a plethora of robotic puppy-themed NFTs. With Kia topping up the donation by a further $500,000, it has been reported that this has now covered the adoption costs of more than 22,000 animals formerly residing in shelters.

Kia’s NFT collection is one of many big-name institutions and brands joining the current hype surrounding NFTs and unveiling NFT projects with the intent of generating funds for charity.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1672366993002.png)
One of KIA x Sweet’s Collaborative NFTs (Image Courtesy of Sweet’s Medium Page)

### Charles Hoskinson Reveals Upcoming ADA Experiment

Cardano co-founder and CEO, Charles Hoskinson, has revealed that he intends to run a $1,000,000 ADA experiment with the new Cardano wallet, Lace, to ensure security. The Lace wallet was built by the Cardano developer Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) and acts as a lightweight multi-chain crypto wallet that seeks to interconnect and onboard everything from both Web2 and Web3 into a single interface. In a recent YouTube video, Hoskinson remarked on the recent hack on the password management firm, LastPass, after an unauthorised entity gained access to their third-party cloud-based storage service, which led to the obtainment of ‘basic customer information and related metadata’.

This breach has exacerbated cybersecurity concerns and led to Hoskinson stating that it is a ‘shame’ that Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption programmes are not an industry standard. As a testament to Cardano’s dedication to security, Hoskinson has stated that when the Lace wallet begins to support PGP encryption of paper wallets he will take ‘probably a million dollars’ worth of ADA and place it into a paper wallet encrypted with PGP and publicly post it on Twitter so ‘you can guys can try to break it’. This experiment, while bold, could prove to be a vital stepping stone to improving blockchain security on a wider scale providing any break attempts are unsuccessful.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1672367093003.png)
Charles Hoskinson (Image Courtesy of UToday)

## Current Project Trends
Based on data provided by CoinMarketCap, a majority of the top-gaining projects across the past week have been based on anonymous P2P transactions. In light of data breaches and exploits, there has been an evident demand for anonymous, encrypted transactions and data as a means of mitigating the risk of the aforementioned. These projects have witnessed substantial valuation gains upwards of 95% and a vast influx in trading volume, likely as investors dedicated to remaining involved in blockchain seek to find alternative projects and solutions to place their faith in.

## The Current BTC Trend

As investors began to anticipate the potential of a ‘Santa Rally’ in the run-up to the holidays which was hoped to close the year on a high note, [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT), unfortunately, fell short as price stagnation occurred on the 22nd. With [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) moving in a tight horizontal range between $16,585 and $16,940 between the 22nd and 25th, [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) ultimately reached a flat downside swing in the daily candle before closing at $16,830. Since then, [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) has continued to drop further, with the $16,480 region acting as the local support as of yesterday. However, as [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) has begun to move above the $16,800 zone, which was established as an area of resistance in the previous week, it could signal that [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) may be progressively moving towards recovery, particularly if it progresses above the $17,000 resistance in the coming weeks. Yet, this possibility could be far away, as [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) continues to stagnate and move below 1% in a positive or negative direction on a weekly basis.

On the flip side, [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT)’s MVRV (market value to realised value) has remained relatively horizontal across the past couple of weeks, yet this week, despite any price fluctuations, the [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) MVRV has remained consistent at 0.853. Considering the value remains below one, this signals that the [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) market may be at a ‘possible market bottom’, indicating that taking a gradual long position may be a beneficial tactic in the current market climate, as [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) is reportedly trading below its realised value. However, this week’s MVRV has climbed above that of the previous week, suggesting that [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) may progressively be migrating back towards a healthy valuation territory. This may signal that the current bearish spiral [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) is in may be coming to a close, providing this minute, yet notably significant, momentum continues.
![](https://gimg2.gateimg.com/image/article/1672367235004.png)
Monthly MVRV Data For BTC (Data Courtesy of Blockchain.com)

## The State Of ETH Gas Fees
As of the 29th of December, there has been a small increase in the total gas used across the past week in comparison to the former, with the lowest figure attained on the 27th, totalling 108,656,647,519. The highest figure attained this week was on the 25th, totalling 109,290,486,943, which is an increase from the previous week. However, despite the increase, gas usage appears to be consistent with current month-by-month trends.

As a result, Ethereum gas fee boundaries this week have taken a notable incline from the week prior. The low gas boundaries remained between 7-91 gwei, the average boundaries were between 7-93 gwei, and the high boundaries were between 8-112 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 Seaport 1.1 (with fees totalling $206,569.06 or 172.20 ETH), Uniswap V3: Router 2 (with fees totalling $162,216.90 or 135.23 ETH),  and CoinTool: XEN Batch Minter (with fees totalling $163,406.37 or 136.22 ETH).

The estimated cost of transactions across the likes of OpenSea: Sale, Uniswap V3: Swap, and USDT: Transfer, has been suggested to be between $0.84 and $3.32, according to Etherscan.
## The Current Macro Situation
### Ripple vs SEC Case
After well over a year of the Ripple vs SEC lawsuit tainting the public and legal perception of blockchain at large, a historic decision made by the US Department of Justice may have paved the way for Ripple to emerge victorious from the lawsuit. In a groundbreaking decision, Ripple may have gained an edge in the lawsuit as a US Department of Justice official judge, Analisa Torres, branded digital currencies as commodities. Providing Ripple’s attorneys cite the statements made by Judge Torres, it could make a case for Ripple in the long term and potentially bring this lawsuit to a close and establish a sense of regulatory clarity amongst the wider market.
## What Could Be Coming In The Week Ahead?
Based on the aforementioned data and the current overarching bearish sentiment within the market, it can be assumed that the bear market will likely continue into 2023. Yet, the growing positive sentiment surrounding blockchain real-world utility, Ripple nearing a win against the SEC, and [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT)’s MVRV beginning to increase, could all contribute to the revitalisation of investor faith in the wider cryptocurrency market leading us into 2023. Perhaps Q1 of 2023 could lead to the gradual and sustainable recovery of the cryptoicurrency market – yet only time will tell.
<div>
<div class="blog-details-info">
<div>Author:** Matthew Webster-Dowsing**, Gate.io Researcher
<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 cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.
</div>

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A brief analysis of the cryptocurrency market between December 23rd and December 29th, 2022.

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Market Trend｜FBI Begins Investigating 3Commas Data Breach;Charles Hoskinson Reveals Upcoming ADA Experiment