Dogecoin ($DOGE) to Outperform Bitcoin in ‘Revenge Pump’, Says Crypto Analyst Who Called 2018’s Bear Market Bottom

Feb 1, 202305:00

The meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin ($DOGE) is set to outperform the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin ($BTC) in the near future in what a popular cryptocurrency analyst called a “rage pump.”

The pseudonymous analyst, known as Smart Contractor on social media, is well-known for accurately calling bitcoin’s 2018 bear market bottom above $3,000, and has said that while the DOGE/USD trading pair looks like a “hot mess,” the DOGE/BTC pair “looks gearing up for a revenge pump of probably 100% or more.”

In a follow-up tweet, the analyst noted that after four attempts, $DOGE is already starting to break out on the USD pair.

Dogecoin’s price has notably recently surged after a report suggested Elon Musk wants Twitter to offer a payments service that would include cryptocurrencies. Musk is a well-known $DOGE supporter who recently put pressure on fast-food giant McDonald’s to accept it as a payment method.

Elon Musk’s original offer to McDonald’s came after a cryptocurrency market sell-off that had seen McDonald’s tease the cryptocurrency community with a tweet asking people who run crypto Twitter accounts how they are doing after the sell-off.

Responding to a tweet from the official account of McDonald’s, which had been inactive for a few months, a user asked Musk whether his offer to eat a Happy Meal on TV if the fast-food chain accepts $DOGE as a payment method was still standing, to which Musk responded positively.

Earlier, another pseudonymous cryptocurrency analyst, Rekt Capital, suggested DOGE could see a breakout rally that would see it rise above its current levels after it underperformed other meme-inspired cryptocurrencies in the cryptocurrency space’s latest rise.

Also read: Does Dogecoin Have a Cap or Supply Limit?

Rekt Capital shared in a tweet with their over 330,000 followers that DOGE was “now testing the top of the Falling Wedge trying to challenge for a breakout.”

It’s worth noting Smart Contracter is famous for, in June 2018, predicting the bear market that was seeing the price of bitcoin drop from a then-all-time high near $20,000 would end with the coin trading at $3,200. The prediction was nearly accurate, as BTC hit the target in December of that year.Image Credit

Featured Image via Unsplash

 

Cardano's (ADA) Djed Last Update Before Launch Is Out, Here's What's Inside

Jan 31, 202320:19

In a recently published tweet, COTI account shared that all the tests of Djed stablecoin have been completed successfully, and all other preparations have been done. The overcollateralized algorithmic Cardano-based stablecoin is ready for launch.

"Buckle up! Last Djed update before we launch!"

In the blog post, whose link was published with the tweet, the COTI team boasted that the final preparations for the launch of the long-anticipated Cardano-based stablecoin were successfully completed last night.

Aside from completing all the tests and bootstrapping liquidity, the team deployed the Djed contract to the mainnet and registered the DJED and SHEN tokens on the Cardano scan.

SHEN reserve token will help DJED maintain its peg to the U.S. Dollar. The liquidity was boosted thanks to major ADA holders, who the COTI team had contacted in advance prior to the launch. Now, after hard work last night, the Djed reserve stands at 600% — that is an optimal one for launch, according to the devs, since it will enable users to mine both DJED and SHEN tokens as soon as the launch takes place.

Djed and its reserve coin, SHEN

The devs explained that those ADA holders who were the first to help provide liquidity had to pay the same fees that would be paid by everyone on the platform with no preferred conditions for them.

The next wave of liquidity providers who mint SHEN tokens will be able to benefit from fees collected before their arrival. SHEN is currently worth more than ADA; this is why minting this reserve token at a higher price can be compared to buying a stake in a valuable asset.

CEO of COTI Shahaf Bar-Geffen commented on the above-mentioned tweet, jokingly asking if the stablecoin is going to be still launched in January as today is the last day of this month.

According to the COTI team, the names Djed and SHEN were taken from ancient Egyptian culture. Djed is a symbol that stands for stability and strength, also known as "The Backbone of Osiris."

SHEN is a symbol of royalty and symmetry. It also refers to such notions as infinity, eternity, protection and completeness. SHEN is tradable, and by buying and selling it, users can help Djed maintain its stability to the USD it is backed with. Besides, while trading, they will be able to earn a portion of the transaction fees in the reserve pool.

Djed is expected to become the fuel that will help the struggling DeFi system of Cardano, adding much more liquidity to it.

 

ADA-backed algorithmic stablecoin ‘Djed’ launched on Cardano

Jan 31, 202319:53

Since the fall of the TerraUSD (UST) algorithmic stablecoin in May 2022, many users in the crypto space have developed a weariness toward that particular asset class. The market for algorithmic stablecoins has declined 10x from its all-time high before the Terra collapse.

However, this has not stopped Cardano network developers from pushing forward with the launch of the ecosystem’s overcollateralized stablecoin on Jan.31. The new algorithmic stablecoin, Djed (DJED), launched on the Cardano mainnet and is pegged to the United States dollar and backed by Cardano’s native cryptocurrency, ADA. It uses the Shen (SHEN) token as its reserve coin.

According to the announcement, the new token recently completed a successful security audit and was under development for over a year. DJED is a product of Coti, a decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions developer on the Cardano blockchain, as a means for new DeFi and payment opportunities.

Cointelegraph reached out to the developers for further comments on the launch. 

Prior to the launch of the new Cardano stablecoin, the idea of bringing another algorithmic stablecoin into existence caused tremors among the online crypto community.

This is one of the latest in a series of recent updates coming out of the Cardano network, which included an announcement from co-founder Charles Hoskinson on Jan.12 that the ecosystem will expand via custom-built sidechains.

On Jan. 23, due to an anomaly, 50% of Cardano nodes disconnected and had to restart, which caused a network outage. This was only one week before the launch of the new algorithmic stablecoin.

At the beginning of 2023, Bloomberg reported that the risk assessment firm Moody’s Corporation is developing a scoring system for stablecoins, including an initial analysis for up to 20 digital assets.

 

Bitcoin mining revenue jumps up 50% to $23M in one month

Jan 30, 202316:25

As Bitcoin (BTC) shows a minor bull run, the connected sub-ecosystems’ year-long struggle for survival has started to pay off. For starters, the Bitcoin mining community experienced a 50% increase in revenue — through mining rewards and transaction fees — in the first month of 2023.

On Dec. 28, 2022, Bitcoin mining revenue dipped to $13.6 million for the first time since October 2020. This, coupled with rising energy prices amid geopolitical tensions, imposed tremendous financial pressure on the companies running mining operations – forcing a few to shut shop.

As Bitcoin remains well-positioned for a steady recovery, the mining industry witnessed a 50% growth in revenue in terms of US dollars, as shown below.

Bitcoin mining revenue jumped from $15.3 million on Jan. 1 to nearly $23 million in the span of 30 days.

As more miners join to power and secure the decentralized Bitcoin network, the hash rate continues to attain new all-time highs. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin hash rate stood at around the 300 exahashes per second (EH/s) mark.

Related: Bitcoin stays out of fear for 11 straight days as price tips near 24K

One of the biggest criticism of Bitcoin remains the high energy requirement for running the proof-of-work consensus mechanism. In October 2022, Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin witnessed a 41% increase in energy consumption year-on-year (YoY).

However, a drive for sourcing greener energy to power Bitcoin mining facilities aims to solve the predicament. Most recently, a mining company tapped into a source of stranded energy in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa.

As Cointelegraph reported, the project — undertaken by Gridless — uses 50 kilowatts (kW) of stranded energy to test out as a new Bitcoin mining site.

Speaking about the overall impact of the initiative, Erik Hersman, CEO and co-founder of Gridless stated, “The power developer had built these powerhouses a few years ago, but they weren’t able to expand to more families because they’re barely profitable and couldn’t afford to buy more meters to connect more families. So, our deal allowed for them to immediately buy 200 more meters to connect more families.”

In addition, the environmental footprint of the Bitcoin mining facility is low as it runs purely off a river-based hydro powe.

 

Data: BTC and ETH adoption rate peaked in the last quarter of 2022

Jan 30, 202316:10

In the past year, the crypto markets witnessed what the industry participants call one of the worst bear markets along with the collapse of several firms putting investors’ confidence in the asset to the test. However, data suggests that the adoption of Bitcoin and Ethereum continued to grow despite the adverse conditions. 

As per data from a recent report of Coingecko, a firm providing fundamental analysis of the crypto sector, Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past year have continued to grow. Despite the prices of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization dropping by over 60% last year, the investors still made significant investments in the assets.

According to the report, the number of wallets holding at least $1000 of crypto assets increased by 27% last year. During this period, addresses accumulating 0.1 Bitcoin (around $1000) increased to 4.20 million as of December 31 from the 3.40 million recorded on January 1 last year. Similarly, wallets holding 1 Ethereum (minimal value of $1000) rose from 1.41 million to 1.73 million over the same time. 

The report also highlighted that the rate of adoption of the assets grew to its highest level in the fourth quarter of the year. The highest adoption rate event coincided with the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX.

According to the report, while addresses holding 0.1 Bitcoin grew by an average of 7.3% each quarter, the rate during the collapse of FTX jumped to 9.7%. Simultaneously, addresses holding 1 Ethereum rose by an average of 7% each quarter and surged by 10.4% during this period. 

In the case of Ethereum, the higher adoption was tied to the completion of its migration to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in September.

Notably, Bitcoin and Ethereum have ended the poor price performance of last year, by rising over 30% over the past month. In the last 30 days, the performance of both assets saw them return to their pre-FTX collapse levels. Bitcoin prices rose above $23,000 while Ethereum rose above $1,600 for the first time since September 2022 bringing major relief to investors.

However, not just Bitcoin and Ethereum, the run also spread to other digital assets like Aptos’ APT token, which surged to a new all-time high. In addition, Solana’s SOL and FTX’s native token FTT also saw a significant rise. 

Besides that, the total crypto market capitalization reclaimed the $1 trillion mark amidst the bull run. As of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $23,693.00, a 2.75% surge over the past 5 days and about 42.73% surge over the past month whereas Ethereum is trading at $1,629.60, a 1.07% surge over the past 5 days and about a 35.90% surge over the past month. 

© Todayq News

 

El Salvador’s Bitcoin City Wins an International Design Award (Report)

Jan 29, 202306:44

The LOOP Design Awards reportedly recognized the Bitcoin City of El Salvador’s government as one of the most outstanding projects in interior design and architecture. 

When completed, the metropolis will use the energy released from the Conchagua volcano to power itself and BTC as its currency.  Bukele’s Dream City Gets an Award

According to recent coverage, El Salvador’s urban project stood out among 700 proposals. The jury outlined its innovative interior style, while the beautiful surrounding nature and the nearby volcanoes also attributed to the success. They also highlighted the work of the Mexican architect Fernando Romero who designed it.

The Bitcoin City will be built in the southeast of the Latin American country, close to two of the nation’s biggest volcanoes – Conchagua and Tecapa. Romero’s team said the future metropolis will be “efficient and sustainable” and will use geothermal energy from the volcanoes to power itself. 

It will use bitcoin as its currency which could provide certain monetary benefits to the residents. “The new public space will be the culmination of decades of research into what humans need to live well in an anti-inflationary economy,” the architect outlined.

Romero designed the urban area in the shape of a circle so it could represent the logo of bitcoin when looked at from above. 

The President of El Salvador – Nayib Bukele – was the first to present the project in 2021. The local government planned to raise a $1 billion bitcoin-backed bond to finance the construction, which was supposed to mature in 2032. However, the authorities postponed it in March 2022, citing unfavorable market conditions.

Bukele shed more light on the design in May last year, showing how the city will look when observed from the air, its modern airport, and its volcano watchtower. So Many More Bitcoin Initiatives

Apart from becoming the first nation to embrace the primary cryptocurrency as a legal tender, El Salvador’s government has also introduced several projects related to it in the past few years.

It built a massive vet hospital named Chivo Pets, where treatments are paid in BTC, and opened an education center that provides “free and accessible learning opportunities” surrounding the asset for Salvadorans.

The authorities have also started accumulating bitcoin on a macroeconomic level, holding approximately $54 million of it (as of now). The amount, though, could be higher since Bukele announced in November that the government will purchase one BTC per day. It remains unknown whether the buying spree goes as promised.

 

Is The Bitcoin Bear Market Over? An Increasingly Strong Confluence of On-Chain/Technical Indicators Say Yes

Jan 26, 202307:13

Six out of eight indicators watched by analysts at crypto data analytics platform Glassnode to identify when Bitcoin is transitioning out of a bear market are flashing bullish signals, and a seventh is likely to also soon turn green. Glassnode’s “Recovering from a Bitcoin Bear” dashboard of indicators seeks to help Bitcoin investors identify when the Bitcoin market is moving towards a healthier trend by watching a mixture of on-chain, technical and network fundamental indicators.

Historically, at least 5 of these indicators are flashing green when Bitcoin prices are rising. Meanwhile, when all eight indicators start flashing bullish signals, this has historically been a great buy signal. Conversely, when less than five of these indicators are flashing green, Bitcoin’s price is typically in a long-term decline. Light blue denotes time periods where at least five out of eight bullish conditions have been met. Dark blue denotes time periods when all eight are met.Signal 1 and 2: Spot Prices Trading Above Key Pricing Models

Glassnode groups these indicators into four categories. The first is whether or not Bitcoin is trading above key Pricing Models – the 200-Day Simple Moving Average (SMA) and the Realized Price, which is an on-chain indicator that shows the mean price of when each Bitcoin on the network last moved (the average price wallets “paid” for their Bitcoins when they received them).

With Bitcoin’s 200DMA at around $19,600 and its Realized Price at around $19,800, Bitcoin recently broke back to the north of both of these key levels for the first time since December 2021. Both are thus flashing green.

Signal 3 and 4: Network Utilization is Increasing

The 30-Day SMA of New Addresses recently broke above its 200-Day SMA and is thus flashing green. This has historically occurred at the start of bull markets.

Meanwhile, the Revenue From Fees Multiple still has a negative 2-year Z-score of around -0.33. The Z-score is the number of standard deviations above or below the mean of a data sample. In this instance, Glassnode’s Z-score is the number of standard deviations above or below the mean Bitcoin Fee Revenue of the last 2-years.

This indicator is thus still not flashing green. However, as history shows, this can change very quickly.Signals 5 and 6: Market Profitability is Returning

The 30-Day Simple Moving Average (SMA) of the Bitcoin Realized Profit-Loss Ratio (RPLR) indicator recently moved above one for the first time last April. That means that the Bitcoin market is realizing a greater proportion of profits (denominated in USD) than losses.

According to Glassnode, “this generally signifies that sellers with unrealized losses have been exhausted, and a healthier inflow of demand exists to absorb profit taking”. Hence, this indicator is sending a bullish sign.

Meanwhile, though the Adjusted Spent Output Profit Ration (aSOPR), an indicator that reflects the degree of realized profit and loss for all coins moved on-chain, remains below 1 (indicating the market isn’t yet in profit), it is fast moving higher and looks likely to soon cross 1. It was last at 0.988.

This is the seventh indicator that isn’t yet sending a bullish signal, but soon likely will be. Looking back over the last eight years of Bitcoin history, the aSOPR rising above 1 after a prolonged spell below it has been a fantastic buy signal.Signals 7 and 8: BTC Balance Has Moved In Favor of The HODLers

The Bitcoin Realized HODL Multiple has been in an uptrend over the last 90 days, a bullish sign according to Glassnode. The crypto analytics firm states that “when the RHODL Multiple transitions into an uptrend over a 90-day window, it indicates that USD-denominated wealth is starting to shift back towards new demand inflows”. It “indicates profits are being taken, the market is capable of absorbing them… (and) that longer-term holders are starting to spend coins” Glassnode states.

Glassnode’s final indicator in its Recovering from a Bitcoin Bear dashboard is whether or not the 90-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) of Bitcoin Supply in Profit has been in an uptrend over the last 30 days or not. Supply in Profit is the number of Bitcoins that last moved when USD-denominated prices were lower than they are right now, implying they were bought for a lower price and the wallet is holding onto a paper profit. This indicator is also flashing green.So Are We In A Bitcoin Bull Market?

2022’s macro headwinds appear to be abating. US inflation is fast dropping to more acceptable levels and with the US economy grinding to a halt as per recent survey data and corporate earnings, the bond market’s assessment that the Fed won’t be able to tighten rates much more in 2023 is looking like an increasingly accurate call.

This narrative has been a key driver of Bitcoin’s 2023 rally so far, and many think could further support its price in the months ahead. While some continue to deride the latest move higher as just another bear market rally, the above-noted indicators in Glassnode’s dashboard suggest that this latest move higher could well be something more.

And these aren’t the only on-chain indicators flashing signals of an incoming bull market. According to analysis posted on Twitter by @GameofTrade_, 6 on-chain metrics including the Accumulation trend score, Entity-adjusted dormancy flow, Reserve risk, Realized price, MVRV Z-score and Puell multiple are “calling for a generational long-term buying opportunity”.

Elsewhere, the widely followed Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index recently moved back into neutral territory (i.e. above 50) for the first time after a prolonged spell of Fear and Extreme Fear. A lasting recovery back into neutral often comes at the beginning of the next Bitcoin bull market, such as in early 2019 and then again in mid-2020.

Analysis from crypto-focused Twitter account @CryptoHornHairs made a jaw-dropping observation that Bitcoin is following almost exactly in the footsteps of a near-four-year market cycle that it has been following for the past more than eight years. After bottoming last November, Bitcoin may rally for another nearly 1000 days, the analysis suggests, before entering its next bear market in 2025.

A widely followed Bitcoin pricing model is sending a similar story. According to the Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow pricing model, the Bitcoin market cycle is roughly four years, with prices typically bottoming somewhere close to the middle of the four-year gap between “halvings” – the Bitcoin halving is a four-yearly phenomenon where the mining reward gets halved, thus slowing the Bitcoin inflation rate. Past price history suggests that Bitcoin’s next big surge will come after the next halving in 2024.

 

BTC Miner Core Scientific Raises $500M From BlackRock, Ibex Investors (Report)

Jan 26, 202307:53

The US-based bitcoin miner – Core Scientific – reportedly secured a $500 million fundraiser led by leading finance players, such as BlackRock, Apollo Capital, Kensico Capital, Ibex Investors, and others.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of last year but continued mining BTC to repay debtholders. Traditional Finance Firms Flocking to Help

According to a court filing seen by Bloomberg, BlackRock and several other high-profile investors lent approximately $500 million to Core Scientific by purchasing its secured convertible notes. Ibex Investors was the largest contributor to the financing, lending nearly $100 million.

BlackRock loaned $38 million through note purchases, while Apollo Capital Management bought $22.6 million and $11 million in April and August, respectively.

Both asset managers gave away $23 million in total to Core Scientific’s debtor-in-possession loan so it could continue mining bitcoin despite its problems.

The prolonged bear market and the plummeting price of the primary digital asset significantly harmed the crypto miner, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a few days before Christmas. Despite that, the entity saw the price of its shares rise in the following weeks. Currently, CORZQ trades at around $0.11, compared to the $0.05 marked nearly a month ago.

However, its market capitalization of around $41 million stands far from the $4.3 billion reached at the beginning of 2022 (upon getting listed on Nasdaq). Mining Remains Unfazed

Regardless of its multi-billion losses registered in 2022, the dismissed employees, and the bankruptcy filing, Core Scientific mined 1,435 BTC in December. In comparison, the November production was 1,356 BTC. It also increased its self-mining hashrate from 15.4 EH/s to 15.7 EH/s.

In addition, the organization provided data center colocation services and operating support for 91,000 customer-owned ASIC servers (in November) and 80,500 (in December), representing approximately 37% and 34% of the functioning mining fleet in those months. Those servers produced 795 BTC in November and 931 BTC in the following month.

The results came in spite of the numerous closures of data centers, which represented 5,828 and 17,179 megawatt hours (in November and December, respectively). Core revealed it has teamed up with utility companies to ensure power grid stability.

Its main facilities remain distributed in Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, North Dakota, and North Carolina. 

 

Tesla Remained a Bitcoin Hodler During Q2 of 2022

Jan 26, 202308:15

Tesla, the electric car company led by Elon Musk, did not sell the remaining of its Bitcoin stash, as it was supposed to do during the 4th quarter of 2022, according to a filing published by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Tesla’s BTC holdings should be priced at around $245 million, which would be the last 25% of all the Bitcoin purchased by the company during the Crypto Bullrun of 2021.

Despite the crypto market crash of the following year and the negative news that darkened the crypto ecosystem, such as the bankruptcy of major firms in the industry, Tesla kept “hodling” part of its crypto fortune, according to its Q4 and FY 2022 Update. Musk Invests in Opportunities

During the first quarter of 2021, Tesla purchased 43,200 BTC for $1.5 billion. The company held onto its bitcoins for more than a year despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused massive layoffs and the closure of multiple US companies.

In July 2022, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company had to sell 75% of its Bitcoin for $936 million due to the rise in the company’s production costs in China, which had soared to unprecedented levels in the wake of the coronavirus.

However, Musk clarified that the company was “open to increasing bitcoin holdings in the future” and that they had nothing against BTC. He stated that the reason for the sale was due to uncertainty surrounding the COVID lockdowns in China and the need to maximize the company’s cash position.

Musk also reported in March 2022 that he was still holding his personal bitcoins and had no intention of selling them.

As a general principle, for those looking for advice from this thread, it is generally better to own physical things like a home or stock in companies you think make good products, than dollars when inflation is high.

I still own & won’t sell my Bitcoin, Ethereum or Doge fwiw.

— Mr. Tweet (@elonmusk) March 14, 2022 Tesla and its Bitcoin Trust Issues

Tesla was one of the first companies to invest large amounts of money in bitcoin, and its first purchase fueled BTC’s bullish rally, driving it from approximately $20,000 to nearly $70,000. However, it started to lose confidence in its investment due to Bitcoin’s energy consumption, causing Tesla to stop accepting Bitcoin payments for the purchase of its cars in May 2021. Bitcoin crashed shortly after that, going from $55K to $52K in hours.

In September 2022, Michael Saylor, founder of Microstrategy, spoke out in defense of the Bitcoin mining industry, arguing that reports of increased carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining were “wrong.” He said that “99.92% of the world’s carbon emissions are due to industrial energy uses other than bitcoin mining.”

Despite this, Tesla has not since spoken out on bitcoin mining. It’s unclear if the company is planning to embrace Bitcoin again in the future. However, Tesla’s retention of 25% of its Bitcoin stash, despite the market crash and negative news in the crypto ecosystem, could indicate a renewed interest in the digital currency.

Moreover, Musk has always been vocal about his support for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies —especially Dogecoin. The company may be waiting for the right time to make a move, but it’s also possible they’re simply holding on to their Bitcoin stash as a long-term investment.

 

Court to hear oral arguments in Grayscale’s lawsuit against the SEC in March

Jan 25, 202307:13

A United States appeals court is set to hear the oral arguments relating to Grayscale Investment’s lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its decision to deny Grayscale’s Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF).

According to a court motion filed on Jan. 23, both sides will present their arguments at the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on March 7, at 9:30 am local time.

Oral arguments are spoken presentations delivered by attorneys summarizing why their clients should win the case. Each party in the case takes turns directly speaking and answering questions from the judge and is given equal amounts of time to do so.

In a tweet on Jan. 24, Grayscale Chief Legal Officer Craig Salm said the newly filed motion was “welcome news” as they were previously anticipating oral arguments to be scheduled “as soon as Q2.”

The composition of the argument panel in the Grayscale case will be revealed on Feb. 6, 30 days prior to the date of the oral argument, while the amount of time for the argument will be set in a separate order, according to the motion.

Grayscale initiated its lawsuit against the SEC in June after the regulator rejected its application to convert its $12 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot-based ETF.

Earlier this month, Grayscale filed a reply brief with the D.C. Court of Appeals, claiming the SEC acted arbitrarily in treating spot-traded ETFs differently from futures-traded products and that the SEC exceeded its authority when it denied Grayscale’s application for a Bitcoin ETF.

Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein reiterated a similar point during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Jan. 24, stating:

“It’s important to remind the role that regulators like the SEC play when it comes to investors. They’re not here to tell investors what to or what not to invest in. They’re here to ensure all the proper disclosures are made [...] so [investors] are aware of all the risks associated.”

Sonnenshein said they were “certainly expecting” a decision from the courts regarding its case against the SEC in “Q2 or Q3 of this year.”

“The frustrating thing for investors and certainly the Grayscale team is that we’re actually a business that was born in the U.S., made use of existing U.S. regulatory frameworks to bring crypto to investors in a safe and compliant way.”

“Meeting with both houses yesterday and today, what we’re really hearing [...] is that had the SEC already approved this spot-Bitcoin ETF [...] a lot of the recent investor harm we’ve seen in crypto would’ve been prevented,” he added. 

 

Bitcoin Price Just Saw Technical Correction But Key Uptrend Support Intact

Jan 25, 202310:39

Bitcoin price started a downside correction below $23,000. BTC is testing an important support and might start a fresh increase towards $23,500.

• Bitcoin started a downside correction and declined below the $23,000 support zone.
• The price is trading below $23,000 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.
• There is a major bullish trend line forming with support near $22,400 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair could start a fresh increase if it stays above the $22,000 support zone.

Bitcoin Price Tests Key Support

Bitcoin price struggled to clear the $23,400 and $23,500 resistance levels. BTC started a downside correction and traded below the $23,000 support zone.

The price declined below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the key increase from the $20,395 swing low to $24,250 high. The price even spiked below the $22,500 support level. However, the bulls appeared near the $22,200 support zone.

There is also a major bullish trend line forming with support near $22,400 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair. Bitcoin price is now trading below $23,000 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.

An immediate resistance is near the $22,700 level. The next major resistance is near the $22,850 zone or the 100 hourly simple moving average, above which the price might gain bullish momentum. In the stated case, the price may perhaps rise towards the $23,200 level.

NewsBTC

Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

The next resistance could be near the $23,500 level. Any more gains might send btc price towards the $24,200 level.

More Losses in BTC?

If bitcoin price stays above the trend line support or $22,200, it could continue to move down. An immediate support on the downside is near the $22,000 zone.

The next major support is near the $21,900 zone or the 50% Fib retracement level of the key increase from the $20,395 swing low to $24,250 high. A downside break below the $21,900 level might send the price towards the $21,200 level. Any more losses might send the price to $20,500 in the near term.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD is now losing pace in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is now below the 50 level.

Major Support Levels – $22,100, followed by $22,000.

Major Resistance Levels – $22,700, $22,850 and $23,200.

 

Shiba Inu (SHIB) Rise Continues as Burn Rate Hits Triple Digits: Crypto Market Review, Jan. 23

Jan 24, 202306:50

As cryptocurrency investors take a wait-and-see approach to the market, the majority of assets are slowly entering local consolidation channels that might act as a temporary cool off before the volatility returns to markets.

Shiba Inu battles resistance

Despite the deceleration of the rally on Shiba Inu, the meme asset could still be aiming at a further recovery following the increased amount of Shiba Inu that gets destroyed on the market daily. Additionally, users are becoming more confident about the launch of the Shibarium project that should bring more fundamental value to the network.

From a market perspective, Shiba Inu acts as one of the best risk exposure tools in the cryptocurrency industry. SHIB's volatility has always attracted short- and midterm retail traders and investors who were trying to catch quick profit by utilizing SHIB's enormous changeability.

Since the beginning of the rally, Shiba Inu gained more than 47% to its value in less than a month. Such explosive performance attracted the attention of the aforementioned investors and led to an increase in network activity, which directly affects the burn rate.

At press time, Shiba Inu is trading at $0.000012 and consolidating at the pivotal resistance level reflected in the six-month trend line which, if broken, should act as a strong start for SHIB's movement upward.

Lido Finance on rise

Lido Finance's token is also joining the wild ride on the market as the number of staked Ethereum exceeds the important threshold of 16 million tokens. The rise in the amount of staked Ether accelerated during the bull run on the market as investors feel more confident.

Prior to the recovery of the market, most investors were too afraid to lose their funds in staking contracts due to the inability to realize assets on the market due to the lockage period. Lido Finance partially solves this problem by providing liquid tokens in exchange for staked Ethereum that are tied to the main cryptocurrency at a 1:1 ratio.

Traditionally, Lido Finance follows Ethereum's performance on the market, but in this case the main driver for LDO is most likely the market itself, rather than Ethereum's performance.

Dogecoin is not falling behind

Despite the lack of action on the first meme coin on the market, DOGE may still surprise investors in the future. Compared to the rest of the market, Dogecoin is moving relatively slowly, gaining "only" 30% to its value compared to SHIB's triple-digit gain.

However, DOGE barely broke through the serious resistance level and might soon deliver the golden cross signal between the 50- and 200-day moving averages. Such a strong signal might become fuel for the massive inflow of funds to the asset and launch a proper rally.

Prior to the market-wide recovery, Dogecoin has been ranging after a strong price increase after Elon Musk's Twitter takeover. No drivers for DOGE appeared, after which a stalemate occurred, along with the further decline of the meme coin.

 

Bernstein Names Real Reason Behind Recent Bitcoin (BTC) Price Surge

Jan 24, 202303:26

A recent surge in the crypto market has been triggered by a reversion to the mean, according to an analysis by Bernstein that was released on Monday, CNBC reports.

The largest cryptocurrency recently managed to reclaim the $23,000 level, starting the new year with a bang.

Reversion to the mean is a concept in crypto investing that refers to the tendency of large fluctuations in price or volume to "revert" back to the average after they spike. It is often used by traders looking to profit from temporary market distortions in crowded markets such as those involving cryptocurrencies. According to some market analysts, recent Bitcoin (BTC) price surges can be attributed in part to this phenomenon.

While it is impossible to predict with certainty when or how much an asset's price will revert – as all assets are subject to a variety of unpredictable factors – Bernstein believes that the current surge in BTC prices is likely caused by investors buying back into BTC based on expectations of further price appreciation following several months of relatively low prices.

Despite a few hiccups such as the bankruptcy filing of crypto lender Genesis and FTX exchange implosion, it was stated in the report that any potential overhang on the fluid crypto markets have dissipated because much of the anticipated selling pressure revolved around illiquid private crypto investments.

The investment bank highlighted that Bitcoin has never experienced two consecutive years of negative returns since its inception and recommended being cautious with bearish calls at current market conditions.

However, Bernstein doesn't believe that another major cryptocurrency rally has already started. 

 

Cardano recovers from an outage on 50% relay and block-producing nodes

Jan 23, 202314:15

Cardano stake pool operators (SPO) and users have been reporting at least half of the nodes for the network briefly went offline over the weekend.

According to a Jan. 22 post shared on the Telegram SPO for Input Output Global, the engineering and research fintech behind the Cardano blockchain, an anomaly caused 50% of Cardano nodes to disconnect and restart.

“This appears to have been triggered by a transient anomaly causing two reactions in the node, some disconnected from a peer, others threw an exception and restarted,” the post said, explaining the sudden disruption.

Despite a momentary degradation, the Cardano network recovered without external intervention. As explained in the post, “such transient issues” were considered in the node design and consensus and “the systems behaved exactly as expected.”

During the anomaly, which happened between block 8300569 and 8300570, block production reportedly kept going but was slowed for a few minutes and the “impact was low, akin to the delays that occur during normal operations.”

“Most nodes automatically recovered, depending on the SPO of choice.”

At the time of writing, the root cause of the anomaly and resulting node disconnections and restarts are still under investigation.

“We’re now investigating the root cause for this anomalous behavior and implementing further logging measures alongside our regular monitoring procedures,” stated the official announcement.

Tom Stokes, the co-founder of Node Shark and a Cardano SPO, reported in a Jan. 22 post that more than half of the listed nodes were affected.

He also shared a chart showing where the network sync fell from 100% to slightly above 40% for over 300 reporting nodes.

According to Stokes chart, the network sync recovered back to around 87% after the drop but did not immediately return to its previous level at 100%.

Another SPO reported similar issues to Stoke in a Jan. 22 post, but declared “Some SPOs saw no impact.”

“Others had relays and BPs restart. SPOs, Devs, and IOG are in Discord debugging atm. No root cause yet,” they said. 

 Bitcoin (BTC) Approaches Major Inflection Point After Stunning Rally: CryptoQuant

Jan 23, 202315:51

Bitcoin (BTC) appears to be approaching an important inflection point following its stunning rally over the past few weeks, according to an analysis by CryptoQuant.

With traders carefully eyeing this crucial decision point, both technical and on-chain data suggest that there is still much uncertainty in the near term about where the number one crypto asset will go next.Image by cryptoquant.com

When assessing on-chain activity, evidence indicates that Bitcoin miners and short-term holders have increased their sales activity.

According to CryptoQuant's Miner Position Index (MPI) and Bitcoin Miners Outflow charts, a notable outflow of Bitcoin from miners' wallets has been observed lately as they look to cash out while prices remain relatively elevated.

Similarly, Bitcoin supply metrics such as profits and short-term holders have also jumped considerably. This suggests that short-term investors are looking to potentially make quick profits at these levels before any further pullback in BTC prices takes place.

However, bigger players, including cryptocurrency exchanges, seem to be exercising a great degree of caution, as evidenced by their reduced reserves of Bitcoin. This implies that they have not yet arrived at the conclusion that the downtrend has been broken.

With miners and short-term investors actively selling off their holdings at market resistance, it remains to be seen whether bulls or bears will ultimately prevail in deciding what comes next for BTC pricewise.

Should the wider market sentiment be favorable for prices to continue higher, then this neckline could likely represent a decisive break between bearish sentiment and bullish optimism in determining where the Bitcoin price goes next.

 

Bad Actors Could Continue Exploits In 2023, Security Firm Advises On Private Keys

Jan 22, 202301:30

ZyCrypto

• Cybersecurity firm CertiK warns that malicious actors may continue to exploit decentralized applications in 2023.
• The firm has also cautioned users to guard their private keys as the success rate of bad actors could be due to poor user security.
• Wallet developers and crypto executives to intensify user education efforts this year to avoid losses.

Digital asset fraud was over $4 billion last year, with the 10 largest grossing $2.1 billion as the industry recorded massive rug pull schemes and flash loan hacks.

Cybersecurity firm CertiK has told users not to expect a respite from bad actors this year but to protect their private keys as hackers may focus on that front this year. The firm stated that the frequent hacks of last year show that bad actors may not slow down in 2023.

“We saw a large number of incidents last year despite the crypto bear market, so we do not anticipate a respite in exploits, flash loans, or exit scams.”

The firm places more emphasis on bridge exploits because malicious actors within the crypto space ran riot last year, stealing over $1.4 on the largest six bridge exploits alone.

On wallet security, the company foresees fewer attacks on digital asset wallets because users have gotten a good grasp of the Profanity tool vulnerability which bad actors used to defraud users in the past. The tool allows users to create ‘vanity addresses’ which can be exploited by malicious players.

According to the firm, wallet hacks this year will be largely caused by poor user security.

“It’s possible that funds lost to private key compromises in 2023 will be due to poor management of private keys, bar any future vulnerability found in wallet generators,” the company added.

Bad actors will cripple the market

Amidst digital assets’ turmoil in 2022, frequent scams put the market in a bad situation. Last year, over $2.1 billion was lost in the ten largest incidents alone, most being attacks on DApps, while in 2021, over $10 billion was lost from DApps.

With several reported flash loan attacks, bridge attacks, and wallet scams, wrong signals were sent to investors and authorities on digital assets. More attacks and scams will lead to stricter regulations which may have a negative undertone in the long run.

This year comes with many prospects for digital assets as key areas look to get more adoption, as suggested by Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin last month. Still, the growth in wallets and DApps can be hindered by the activities of bad actors.

 

Cardano Is Buzzing With Super Bullish Activity As ADA Adoption Expands To New Realms

Jan 22, 202302:03

ZyCrypto

Cardano’s ADA is one of the major cryptocurrencies that led gains this week, rising 9% to an intraday high of $0.377 with weekly gains of 22%, per data provided by CoinMarketCap. The upsurge has driven ADA’s market capitalization to more than $13 billion, with the daily trading volume topping $700M.

Although there is not one specific reason behind ADA’s bull run, increasing decentralized finance (DeFi) activity could be one of them. Onchain data by Defillama shows a rise in transaction volumes across most NFT, lending, gaming, and DEXs built on Cardano.

Besides, Cardano’s enthusiasts are optimistic about the ongoing developments in the blockchain, including lace wallet and Hoskinson Health & Wellness Clinic based in Wyoming. Lace is a Web 3 wallet platform on Cardano, released as a testnet for managing digital assets, NFTs, and DeFi services.

Cardano Is Pushing ADA Adoption in Healthcare and Entertainment Joints

Hoskinson Health & Wellness Clinic is a healthcare centre that is perceived as one of the ways Cardano is pushing for the adoption of its native token, ADA. The platform’s co-founder, Charles Hoskinson, recently announced that the new facility would accept ADA as payment. The centre offers medical services, including mental health care, health screening, nutrition, and women’s health. Last year, Cardano also announced the launch of Nessie’s restaurant and a whiskey lounge in Wyoming, also accepting ADA.

The surge can also be related to the activities around non-fungible tokens in the cryptocurrency space. The recent debut of the Shiba Inu-themed token BONK equally caused a pump in the value of Solana’s SOL token. The macroeconomic factors also show that the inflation rate could be easing, and investors could jump in and drive crypto prices higher sooner than later.

Cardano’s positive sentiment happens amid an uptick in cryptocurrency market capitalization, up 6% to $1.05 trillion at press time. Bitcoin has reclaimed the $23k level, while ETH is also on the green, hovering above $1,650.

 

$ADA: Electric Vehicle Maker Is Using Cardano, Aiming to Launch in Sri Lanka

Jan 20, 202309:20

The Cardano ($ADA) network is getting its first automotive project in the near future, with initial operations launching in Sri Lanka. The project was unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos and focuses on the use of electric vehicles, eTukTuks.

According to CityAM, the project comes after several other attempts to launch two and three-wheeler electric vehicles at scale that failed over a lack of charging infrastructure across the globe. To facilitate the move. The project, the news outlet writes, has been designed to address these issues through a “dynamic, multi-revenue model that balances sustainability with innovation.”

The project reportedly has its sights set on emerging markets, from which 63% of the world’s total carbon emissions come from, and where pollutants from inefficient transportation keep on growing.

Launching in Sri Lanka means the project will address a market in which 1.2 million traditional combustion engine Tuktuks circulate regularly, 70% of which are in the capital Colombo. It aims to offer an “affordable transportation network that severs the ties that bind us to fossil fuels.”

The Cardano blockchain will be used to allow drivers, passengers, and other market participants within the network to earn rewards.

As CryptoGlobe reported, popular and respected Cardano influencer “ADA whale” has recently said there is “an insane amount of cool stuff” coming to Cardano and its ecosystem. Some of the projects being built on Cardano include algorithmic stablecoin $DJED, fit-backed stablecoin $USDA, and stablecoin decentralized exchange TeddySwap, among others.

Earlier this month, Cardano’s market cap surpassed that of popular meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin ($DOGE), at a time in which $ADA has been recovering from its second-largest drawdown ever.

Cardano’s price has notably been recovering this year from what was its second-largest drawdown. According to CryptoCompare’s latest Asset Report, the smart contract platform’s native token ended the year at around $0.25 after losing 81.2% of its value over its 12 months. The loss marked its second-largest drawdown, behind a 94.3% drop in the 2018 bear market, when ADA dropped from $0.71 to $0.04.

The drop notably also marked the third decline in yearly performance in Cardano’s history. The cryptocurrency’s recovery came whale addresses recently restarted accumulating $ADA, which could be a main validator to watch for the cryptocurrency’s breakout. After dumping over 560 million $ADA over the final two months of 2022 $ADA whales have restarted accumulating this year, adding 217 million tokens to their stash so far.Image Credit

Featured Image via Unsplash

 

XRP vs. Cardano: Which Altcoin Has More Potential to Reach $1 First?

Jan 20, 202309:30

XRP and Cardano (ADA) are two alternative cryptocurrencies that possess distinct fundamental characteristics. Despite their differences in market capitalization and total supply, these two altcoins share some similarities, such as a dedicated community and the aspiration that their holders will experience a resurgence in the value of altcoins to reach $1.

XRP, developed by Ripple, is a digital token created to be used as a medium of exchange in facilitating global value transfers and enhancing the efficiency of international payments. This is achieved by making them faster and more affordable.

Alternatively, Cardano is an open-source cryptocurrency that aims to provide a solid foundation for building decentralized applications that are scalable, secure and driven by a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. It boasts a layered architecture, which enables the separation of the data layer and the smart contract layer, providing a unique and innovative approach to blockchain technology.What to expect for XRP in 2023?

The XRP community is eagerly awaiting the outcome of the legal battle between Ripple Labs and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that has been ongoing since 2020. The SEC has accused the company of unlawfully selling XRP as an investment without registering it as a security and of profiting from these sales, along with its executives.

Ripple insists that XRP is a digital currency and not a security. The case is still ongoing, with no final decision made yet. However, there is a high level of anticipation that the lawsuit will reach a conclusion this year and that the SEC's analysis will provide greater clarity on what constitutes a security.

Some investors believe in a Ripple victory or even an agreement between the parties. This outcome would be crucial for XRP's ability to maintain its position among the top 10 cryptocurrencies and potentially be relisted on Coinbase. The return to the platform led by Brian Armstrong could also serve as a positive catalyst for XRP's price, as the exchange has a history of successfully driving up the value of listed cryptocurrencies.What to expect for Cardano in 2023?

Ethereum's main competitor, Cardano, has faced challenges in improving its user experience and identifying the true demand for its ecosystem on the market. Despite having a dedicated community and a large number of active developers, the usage of the Cardano ecosystem remains low.

If market demand for Cardano's ecosystem materializes, the platform has the potential to perform well due to its robust ecosystem, decentralized architecture and strong scalability. These strengths position Cardano well to capitalize on any positive developments within its network.

Cardano has been implementing a number of new features, including stablecoins, decentralized oracles, sidechains and dApps optimized for EUTxO, with the aim of positioning itself as a strong competitor to Ethereum. By doing so, it aims to increase demand and usability compared to other cryptocurrencies, such as Solana.Battle of $1

As of the current date, XRP is trading at $0.39, while ADA is trading at $0.33. While the price difference between the two altcoins is relatively small, there is a notable difference in their capitalization.

XRP's capitalization has remained relatively stable since the beginning of 2023, despite experiencing a 15% increase. However, this growth has been slower compared to other cryptocurrencies in the top 10. Conversely, ADA has seen a significant 33% increase in capitalization since the start of the year.

The current trend of investor sentiment and capitalization growth suggests that Cardano may have an advantage over XRP, assuming that the latter's performance continues to be heavily influenced by the outcome of the SEC's decision. However, it is important to note that the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, and conditions can change rapidly.

 

Cardano (ADA): Charles Hoskinson Unloads on YouTuber Ran Neuner

Jan 19, 202314:06

In an explosive outburst, Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson unloaded on YouTube’s Ran Neuner over his perceived dishonesty and bias.

In a tweet, Hoskinson accused Neuner of “shilling for Solana and Luna” while giving Cardano an unfair representation.

Charles O called out Neuner on Twitter for what he perceived as "shamefully dishonest" reporting on Cardano's development progress.

The popular YouTuber has been accused of promoting a VC report that mispresents developer activity on Cardano.

While Cardano consistently ranks among the top blockchains by the number of commits on Github, the blockchain's critics claim that the blockchain is "vaporware" with little to no development activity.

The recent comments immediately set off discussions within the broader crypto space about integrity issues surrounding Neuner's reporting.

Charles O argues that Neuner is just attempting to "sell his own book." "You are lucky you’re not in the US. We prosecute financial crimes here," he added.

However, some noted that Cardano actually has very few developers building within the ecosystem despite having a relatively high numb of core protocol developers, which is why such criticism is not completely unfounded.

Cardano remains the 8th biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. 

 

Is Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson Making Bid for Coindesk?

Jan 19, 202315:00

The liquidity crunch that is stemming from the collapse of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), plus the bankruptcy of FTX Derivatives Exchange, have pushed the Digital Currency Group (DCG) into financial distress. With this distress, one of the company's subsidiaries, crypto news site Coindesk, is now exploring the option of selling, and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson is rumored to be making a bid.

The expectation that the Cardano founder might throw in a bid was fueled by his comments on Twitter a few hours ago, in which he first announced that he just discovered the popular media platform is up for sale. He later backed his comments by saying he will make some calls to find out what the platform's sticker price is.

In the face of the billions of indebtedness of Genesis Trading, a crypto broker, and another DCG subsidiary, the other entities of the Barry Silbert-owned empire may now have to explore other measures to secure new capital injections in order to remain profitable.

DCG notably acquired Coindesk back in 2016 for the sum of $500,000, and per the report from the Wall Street Journal, the company has been receiving up to $200 million from interested parties.

Will Hoskinson submit bid?

This is entirely speculation, and while the Cardano founder is known to be very vocal about his plans, there is no confirmation at this time as to whether a bid, if submitted at all, would be for himself, for Input Output Hong Kong — the company tasked with the development of the blockchain — or the Cardano Foundation.

Hoskinson stands to gain in a major way should he choose to make a run for the news media: he could obtain a bigger and more accessible platform to correct misinformation about Cardano and also promote the work being done by Cardano in the crypto space and around the world.

 

Number of devs increased during crypto winter: Electric Capital report

Jan 18, 202309:31

The notion that bear markets are good for builders appears to be true, with the total number of monthly active Web3 developers increasing 5.4% to more than 23,300 over the last 12 months despite a near 70% drop in crypto prices.

According to a Jan. 16 report from Electric Capital, “full-time” developers — categorized as those who contribute to 76% of GitHub commits — also increased 15.2% to over 7,000, while “one-time” builders fell 6.2% to over 3,500 during the same time period, between December 2021 and December 2022.

Despite the crypto market capitalization beginning its long plunge from its all-time high (ATH) of $2.9 trillion in November 2021, monthly developer activity only began to fall this past June, after the metric reached its record high of nearly 26,500 active developers.

This fall was partly attributed to the fall in developer activity in the Terra ecosystem following its catastrophic collapse in May.

The next three months from June to September saw a 26% fall in weekly active Web3 developers.

Last year did however see 61,127 new Web3 developers come into the industry — the most ever recorded and a 25.8% increase from 2021.

In fact, more new Web3 developers deployed their first line of open-source crypto code in the past year (109,723) than between 2014 and 2020 (101,054).

Ethereum continues to dominate developer activity, having increased its full-time developer count by 9% to 1,873 — which is more than the next three highest ecosystems combined: Polkadot (752), Cosmos (511) and Solana (383).

Developer counts on non-Ethereum chains are catching up though. The Cosmos and Solana networks increased 34% and 36%, respectively, while Starknet is among one of the mid-sized ecosystems to have made a solid run In 2022 with a 214% increase in developer count.

The report also found that following Terra’s collapse only 28 (9%) of the original Terra developers stuck around for Terra 2.0 while 143 developers (42%) called it quits and migrated to other ecosystems.

Many of the former Terra developers migrated to Cosmos, 42 of 143, the most of any other ecosystem.

Electric Capital explained there are many more Web3 developers than accounted for in the report, as some projects are close-sourced.

 

Ethereum Price Remains Supported For A Fresh Increase Above $1,600

Jan 18, 202311:30

Ethereum is consolidating gains above $1,500 against the US Dollar. ETH could start another increase and clear the $1,600 resistance zone in the near term.

• Ethereum is showing positive signs above the $1,500 and $1,520 resistance levels.
• The price is now trading above $1,550 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.
• There is a connecting bullish trend line forming with support near $1,570 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
• The pair could rise further unless there is a downside break below the $1,515 support.

Ethereum Price Eyes Another Increase

Ethereum price remained stable above the $1,500 resistance. ETH made another attempt to clear the $1,600 resistance zone, similar to bitcoin at $21,500.

However, the bears were active near the $1,600 resistance zone. A high is formed near $1,607 and the price is now consolidating gains. There was a minor decline below the 50% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $1,541 swing low to $1,607 high.

The price is now showing positive signs above the $1,540 support. It even remained stable above the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $1,541 swing low to $1,607 high.

Ether price is now trading above $1,550 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. There is also a connecting bullish trend line forming with support near $1,570 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. An immediate resistance is near the $1,600 level. The next major resistance is near the $1,620 level. An upside break above the $1,620 resistance zone could start a fresh increase.

NewsBTC

Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

In the stated case, the price may perhaps rise towards the $1,700 resistance. Any more gains might send the price towards $1,720 or even $1,750 in the near term.

Dips Limited in ETH?

If ethereum fails to clear the $1,600 resistance, it could start a downside correction. An initial support on the downside is near the $1,575 level and the trend line.

The next major support is near the $1,550 level. If there is a move below $1,550, the price might test the $1,515 support. Any more losses might call for a test of the $1,450 zone.

Technical Indicators

Hourly MACD – The MACD for ETH/USD is now gaining momentum in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETH/USD is now above the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $1,540

Major Resistance Level – $1,600

 

DOGE, ETH and LTC Among 3 Most Profitable Coins in This Bullrun: Crypto Market Review, Jan. 16

Jan 17, 202306:50

The market has experienced one of the strongest spikes in open interest on derivatives since the implosion of FTX and the bullrun of 2021. Such a dynamic surprised almost every analyst out there. The chaotic nature of the hate rally we are seeing now creates a lot of questions but does not offer any answers. But some assets enjoy it while it lasts.

Big three

The dynamic on assets like Dogecoin, Ethereum and Litecoin has been pretty similar to the rest of the market. Those cryptocurrencies have been gradually moving upward with the rest of the market, even though the preexisting dynamic on the market was not suitable for a proper recovery.

According to profitability indicators, Dogecoin, Ethereum and Litecoin remain one of the most effective investments on the cryptocurrency market as their profitability stays well above the 50% threshold and has reached even higher after the massive rally on the market.

Ethereum is currently bringing a profit to 61% of its investors, making it one of the most profitable digital assets from the top 100 of the market by capitalization. Prior to the rally on the market, Ether has not been showing any signs of a solid recovery, especially at the existing burn rate on the market.

Dogecoin, on the other hand, was steadily moving upward even before the unexpected bullishness hit the market. At the beginning of the year, Dogecoin gained a solid 15% to its value, presenting itself as a strong preliminary indicator for an upcoming market move.

As for the market's digital silver, Litecoin has been moving in a solid uptrend for the last few weeks, which led to the solid rise of the profitability of the cryptocurrency even without explosive spikes of the asset's price performance.

SHIB whales are becoming more active

The activity of whales on the network has been on a massive rise, which has already been reflected in the enormous 5,000% increase of Shiba Inu's burn rate. According to the transaction volume on the network, we saw almost a $200 million increase of operations on the market.Source: TradingView

The current behavior of large Shiba Inu investors shows that most of them have been actively trying to capitalize on the strong price spike and have been actively selling their holdings instead of accumulating more.

Thanks to the increase in retail demand for SHIB, whales are able to cover some of their selling volume without harming the price of the asset. In case of a continuation of the rally, we might see a return of retail demand on the market and the strong rebound of Shib.

 

DeFi, DAOs and NFTs: Crypto is redefining how charities raise funds

Jan 17, 202309:46

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and decentralized finance (DeFi) are redefining how charities raise donations and distribute funds to those most in need.

Through ever-evolving crypto and blockchain-related technology, crypto philanthropists told Cointelegraph that they've witnessed “new wealth distribution mechanisms" never seen before.

“Philanthropy has traditionally been seen as a high-cost-of-entry, individualistic activity but with web3, collective decision-making bodies like DAOs can use tools that streamline financial coordination and encourage more participation,” explained Omar Antila, Product Lead at Crypto for Charity.

“Crypto enables new innovative fundraising strategies, like charitable NFT-drop campaigns, or allowing people to pool their crypto funds in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols that earn interest for a specific cause,” he added.

In October, a number of breast cancer-focused organizations started implementing NFTs to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Antila noted that he has seen many other philanthropic communities built around non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which have raised support for many other causes in need, such as testicular cancer, human trafficking, and the war in Ukraine.

Last year, UkraineDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization crowdfunded $6.1 million for a 1/1 Ukrainian flag nonfungible token (NFT). Proceeds were aimed at nonprofit organizations in Ukraine helping those affected by the Russian invasion.

Meanwhile, Anne Connelly, the co-author of “Bitcoin and the Future of Fundraising” believes the crypto charity sector will soon expand from Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as the main cryptocurrencies for donations:

“Over time, however, we'll see organizations accepting a much larger spread of tokens — similar to how they would accept gifts of securities. We'll also see gifts of NFTs and other tokenized assets like real estate or collectibles.”

“I believe that once [...] more organizations realize the philanthropic potential of this donor segment, every organization will have a crypto donation platform, the same way every organization accepts credit cards,” she added.

Antila said the wide-reaching nature of crypto means that the total addressable market for crypto charity is huge too.

Antila believes the “2 billion or so unbanked adults that exist in the world today” will soon have the tools “to participate in the global economy, transact, and create wealth without third parties getting in the way or taking a cut.”

This could be especially true for countries suffering from lack of trust in their state’s monetary system, where crypto adoption rates are also highest.

Connelly said adoption rates are highest in undeveloped nations — most notably Nigeria, Argentina, Vietnam and South Africa — because they simply cannot trust their state’s monetary system:

“Over half the world's population lives under double, triple, or quadruple inflation rates. For most people, they can't trust their governments to effectively manage the monetary system.

“Having the choice to use crypto is an important option for citizens, but also shows governments that if they want people to use their fiat currency, they will need to clean up their act,” she added.

 

Bitcoin Has Stopped Trading Like Tech Stock, Gold Bug Says

Jan 16, 202301:55

According to financial analyst James Turk, Bitcoin has managed to survive the latest cryptocurrency winter.

Turk has noted that the largest cryptocurrency has been now moving in tandem with gold. Thus, it has stopped behaving like a typical tech stock.

Investors watched Bitcoin surge to the much-coveted $21,000 level. The significant move was fueled by growing confidence that the world's biggest cryptocurrency may have hit the bottom of the bearish cycle. Moreover, U.S. inflation appears to have peaked, which bodes well for risk assets.

Ether, Cardano and Dogecoin also made significant gains, but Bitcoin has so far managed to outperform them.

Collectively, these leaps sent crypto’s total market capitalization soaring above $1 trillion for the first time in more than two months.

Bitcoin suffered substantial losses in 2022 due to the dabble whammy of the unfavorable macro environment and a slew of crypto scandals. The cryptocurrency ended up plunging to the $15,000 level aid the FTX disaster.

The cryptocurrency is still down roughly 70% from its November 2021 all-time high.