CryptoNews of the Week by NordFX

CryptoNews of the Week


- UK-based crypto companies are having difficulty accessing banking services. According to Bloomberg sources, banks have begun to reject applications, block accounts and request more information regarding customer transactions. 
The agency recalled the decision of HSBC and the Nationwide Building Society to prohibit retail customers from purchasing digital assets using credit cards. Payment service provider Paysafe has announced the termination of its partnership with Binance, citing a “difficult” regulatory environment.
In response to the deteriorating situation, CryptoUK representatives have approached the government with a proposal to create a "whitelist" of companies registered in the country to ease restrictions. And according to Coinpass co-founder and CEO Jeff Hancock, problems with access to banking are contrary to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plans to turn the country into a cryptohub. 

- Cryptocurrency companies may change their jurisdiction from the US to Hong Kong amid increased supervision by US regulators. This was stated to The Wall Street Journal by Ambre Soubiran, the head of the Paris-based crypto asset data provider Kaiko. “Today, the US is tougher on cryptocurrencies than ever, and Hong Kong's regulation [looks] more favorable, which is clearly shifting the center of gravity in investing and trading crypto assets towards it. We want to be where our customers are,” she said. According to Subiran, Kaiko plans to organize a team in Hong Kong, including through access to Chinese institutional investors.

- A cryptocurrency analyst known as Stockmoney Lizards analyzed the dynamics of the flagship crypto asset. In his opinion, the asset's monthly chart looks promising and indicates the potential for further growth. The expert's assumptions are supported by the readings of the RSI indicator. Stockmoney Lizards believes that the current market situation is very similar to the period from 2017 to 2020, when a steady upward trend began to form, and that bitcoin will soon be able to reach the key $47,000 mark.
Another well-known analyst, Michael Van De Poppe, shares this view. According to the expert, buyers are still in control of the situation. If bitcoin quotes remain above $25,000 for some time, we can count on a potential increase up to the level of $40,000.
In turn, representatives of the Derebit platform informed that open interest in bitcoin derivatives continues to grow steadily. They stressed that most of the positions are open to buy, as investors continue to believe in the potential of the crypto market's flagship. 

- Experts from the analytical company Glassnode spoke about the friendliest countries in terms of cryptocurrency taxation in 2023. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) turned out to be the leader. This came as no surprise, as Dubai has made a lot of efforts over the past year to attract crypto companies and other industry participants. In a short period of time, special commissions to regulate cryptocurrencies, separate tax legislation for the digital asset sector, and many other innovations have been created there. All this allows Dubai to claim the title of the world's crypto capital.
The honorable second and third places in the Glassnode list were taken by such states as Malta and Belarus. Next came Monaco, Panama and Malaysia. Among the major countries of the European Union, Germany ranked 7th. Singapore, Switzerland and El Salvador followed closely behind.

- Charles Edwards, founder of digital asset hedge fund Capriole Investments, noted a “familiar” bullish signal on the SLRV Ribbons metric in his tweet. SLRV Ribbons is a tool to measure the potential return of bitcoin. It analyzes the interaction of two moving averages. When the short-term 30-day MA crosses the long-term 150-day MA, bitcoin is in the beginning of a bullish phase. This metric is “as simple as it gets,” Edwards wrote. “It is currently repeating classic bullish behavior with a crossover in early 2023.” The specialist added that SLRV Ribbons, although a relatively new tool, has been tested and shown to be reliable and able to increase the return on investments in BTC.
SLRV is not the only metric that gave the founder of Capriole Investments a sense of déjà vu this month. The Bitcoin Yardstick tool shows a retracement of bitcoin's market value relative to hashrate, but still classifies BTC as "cheap" at current prices. “Bitcoin Yardstick is drawing a very familiar signature to the 2019 lows,” Edwards commented on the indicator readings. At the beginning of that year, after exiting the “cheap” zone, BTC/USD saw only one brief drop during the crisis caused by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. At the moment, according to indicators, price targets for BTC are fixed at $35,000.

- The head of largest crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), believes that competitors to the trading platform pay news agencies and opinion leaders to increase fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about his company. Zhao shared this sentiment as reports surfaced online that he had received an Interpol Red Notice (International Arrest Request). According to the head of Binance, the rumors are not true and are the next wave of FUD.
“All this looks like news leak paid for by another crypto exchange. Amazing. Thus, they [the organizers of the attacks] harm the industry and themselves. We have enough of those who attack us from the outside. At such moments, the cryptocurrency industry should [on the contrary] unite [rather than attack other market players],” Changpeng Zhao wrote in his blog. He did not specify which crypto exchange Zhao believes is attacking Binance.

- According to the analytical company Glassnode, despite the fall in the value of the leading digital currency, its attractiveness as an asset class continues to grow. Thus, the number of unique addresses on the bitcoin network with a balance of at least one coin has reached 992,243. The number of addresses controlling from 100 to 1000 BTC is 14,004. The four largest whales hold between 100,000 and 1 million BTC, including the Binance and Bitfinex exchanges, which control 248,597 and 178,010 bitcoins, respectively. At the same time, it is possible that one of these four whales is the US government. According to the Dune analysts, the total stock of the first cryptocurrency by the US authorities is 205,515 BTC: more than 1% of the coin supply. Most of these assets were obtained when they were confiscated from criminals.
Glassnode experts note that a surge in trader activity was recorded in the second half of last year, when bitcoin fell to $15,000. It was at this time that the number of BTC wallets with a non-zero balance increased sharply, a similar trend is observed in 2023.

- Cybercriminals have stolen $255.8 million in digital currencies since the beginning of the year. "Only" $8.8 million was stolen in January, 3.5 times more - $35.5 million in February, and the figure rose to $211.5 million in March. In total, hackers committed 26 hacks during the first month of spring. The largest amount was stolen during the attack on the Euler Finance DeFi platform, about $197 million, but later the hacker apologized and returned $182.7 million to the project. The reasons for this "nobility" remain unknown. He may have decided that the remaining $14 million would be enough for him.
In addition to cryptocurrencies, $31.5 million worth of NFTs were stolen in three months. A significant part of the stolen tokens was sold on the Blur and OpenSea marketplaces within the first two hours after the theft.

- Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX crypto exchange, has made a bold prediction about the rise in the price of bitcoin to $1 million. He was prompted to do so by the news that the People's Bank of China lowered the required reserve ratios (RRR) for all banks by 0.25%.
For reference: The required reserve ratio is the statutory share of a commercial bank's liabilities on attracted deposits. When this rate is lowered, the amount of funds that commercial banks can provide for lending or investment increases.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Cane Island Alternative Advisors analyst Timothy Peterson stated that 6 million of the 19.3 million bitcoins mined are irretrievably lost. “This means that there are only 13.3 million BTC left, and only 1.7 million BTC to be mined over 100 years. Another million [coins] will almost certainly be lost during this time,” he wrote. According to Peterson, as new bitcoins are mined, old ones are lost. He called the 13 million BTC circulating today “everything we are likely to have access to.”
Coinmetrics analysts calculated in April 2020 that 2.3 million BTC out of the 18.3 million BTC mined at that time were lost forever.

- Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong, who created the Satoshi Skull mascot for Greenpeace, said his work was “never intended to fight bitcoin.” “I created the Skull believing that bitcoin mining was a classic black and white problem. I've dedicated my entire career to reducing hazardous waste emissions, and PoW intuitively felt insecure. Of course, I was wrong,” Von Wong wrote.
The artist noted that after talking with experts from the crypto sphere, he realized the prospects of blockchain technology. In his opinion, bitcoin “could potentially become more environmentally friendly” without changing the algorithm. “I am excited to hear from the bitcoin community that the first cryptocurrency could achieve negative CO2 emissions by the end of the decade,” added von Wong. And now, instead of fighting mining, the artist calls to join the crypto community and improve it from the inside.
On March 23, Greenpeace unveiled a mascot that represents the "dangerous amounts of pollution" caused by bitcoin mining. Will Foxley, director of media strategy at mining company Compass Mining, called the installation “really cool” and put a skull image on the profile avatar.

- Venture investor and billionaire Tim Draper has published recommendations for asset diversification, including using cryptocurrencies. Draper wrote in a report aimed at entrepreneurs that companies "can no longer rely" on just one bank or regulator. “For the first time in many years, governments are taking over banks at the risk of becoming insolvent. Bitcoin is a defense against the financial domino effect and mismanagement with excessive control,” the businessman said. He added that "many startups" turned to him for emergency help after the closure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank.
Draper suggested keeping short-term deposits for no more than six months in two separate accounts, at a local bank and an international bank. In his opinion, organizations should also transfer an amount equal to two salary funds into bitcoin or other digital assets. The billionaire stressed the importance of such a contingency cushion, as management is responsible for meeting payroll deadlines "even in times of crisis."

- Oliver Linch, CEO of Bittrex Global, links the recent bitcoin rally to the US banking crisis caused by the collapse of Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank. At the same time, according to a CNBC survey among influential figures in the industry, the market remains bullish about the future of the first cryptocurrency. So Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino believes that bitcoin can “retest” the all-time high of $69,000. And Marshall Beard, strategic director of the Gemini crypto exchange, predicts that the coin may reach $100,000 this year. In his opinion, if the first cryptocurrency manages to overcome the previous maximum, it “would not take much time to rise even higher.” 

- Bloomberg strategist Mike McGlone believes that gold and bitcoin will be the most popular instruments for investors in 2023. The precious metal will confirm the status of the safest asset. The cost of a troy ounce of gold will soon exceed $2,000. At the same time, the attractiveness of bitcoin, which is seen as an instrument independent of the traditional banking system, will increase. As the global economy worsens, the number of investors who prefer to keep their capital in BTC, gold, as well as in treasuries, will grow, according to a note prepared by McGlone.
The collapse of the banking sector is reminiscent of the crisis of 1929, so the Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy. After the latest rate hike, investment in bitcoin has increased, although many observers expected its value to fall, Bloomberg strategist emphasized. In his opinion, the BTC rebound can be seen as a positive signal, as more traders continue to buy cryptocurrency even amid global uncertainty.

- Place Holder partner and former head of Ark Invest crypto company Chris Burniske, like Mike McGlone, believes now is the time to buy bitcoin and ethereum, as they are created for precisely such crisis moments.

- An analyst with the nickname The Wolf of Crypto found the history of the posts of the famous “gold bug” and bitcoin critic Peter Schiff and recalled that he buried BTC back in 2017. At the time, the coin was trading at $5,000, and Schiff promised that it would soon be completely worthless. Despite the past 6 years, the entrepreneur has not changed his position. And now, in March 2023, he stated that “Bitcoin’s zero price hike just dragged on a bit.”
Analysts recalled that bitcoin quotes rose by 47% after Schiff announced the need to sell assets amid fears caused by a banking collapse caused by the fall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

 - Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, criticized bitcoin, saying that the fundamental value of the first cryptocurrency is zero. He called bitcoin a highly speculative asset with no economic value or utility. It should be noted that Hanke himself is promoting initiatives related to the dollarization of Latin American countries.
Cake Defi CEO Julian Hosp responded to Hanke that BTC can be argued endlessly, but bitcoin definitely has value. According to Hosp, there are undoubtedly people who need bitcoin, so the claim that the first cryptocurrency has zero value is fundamentally wrong.

- The Central African Republic (CAR) will be the next country to legalize cryptocurrency at the state level, writes BeInCrypto. This decision was made after the discussion of the issue in the National Assembly. The debates were held behind closed doors, and after them, the President of the country, Faustin-Archange Touadera, supported the Central Bank's opinion regarding the FCFA cryptocurrency, which will have the status of legal tender in the CAR.

- Analyst Cory Swan has theorized that it was the founder of the Binance Changpeng Zhao (CZ) crypto exchange who was all this time the bear who tried to crash bitcoin to $12,000. “CZ held a large short position against BTC, hoping for $12,000, and paying for his personal big trade with unsecured BUSD and unsecured altcoins,” Swann writes.
A user under the nickname Grinding Poet believes that “Bitcoin at $12,000 is too optimistic. This is a big black swan and a retest of the 2018 lows is imminent. The new target is $3,150.”


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Robert Kiyosaki, author of the bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad and entrepreneur, has once again called for investing in gold, silver and bitcoin amid problems with US banks. In his opinion, regulators will print “even more counterfeit money” to save the “sick economy”. “Take care of yourself. Crash landing is ahead,” Kiyosaki wrote.
Kiyosaki made his announcement amid the recent collapse of major US banks Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, which were taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The latter, together with the Treasury and the US Federal Reserve, said that SVB and Signature Bank depositors will have access to all funds in full. In addition, the Fed announced the creation of the Bank Term Funding Program for banks that may face similar problems (BTFP). $25 billion will be allocated for this purpose. Interestingly, both of these banks were actively used by cryptocurrency companies as fiat gateways.

- Aggressive rate hikes by the Fed and balance sheet cuts have led to bank failures in the US. According to a number of experts, this has become an excellent advertisement for bitcoin, the rate of which is expected to skyrocket. Observers draw parallels to the 2013 Cyprus crisis, which highlighted the shortcomings in the fractional reserve system and drew attention to decentralized hedging as opposed to centralized banking.
“The 18th largest bank [SVB] has collapsed. We have learned how a record sell-off in US Treasuries resulted in billions of dollars of unrealized losses in the banking sector. Thus, we have received another example of the fact that a fractional reserve system has no savers, but only creditors,” writes The Bitcoin Layer.

- Bitcoin reacted with a bullish rally to the news that the US authorities provided liquidity to rescue depositors of Silicon Valley and Signature banks. Market analyst Tedtalksmacro called this move by the Fed the beginning of unofficial quantitative easing. Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes was even more blunt: “Get ready for a rally in risk assets. Money Printer Launched! - he wrote. - Helping the depositors to burst banks means injecting money into the economy, from which liquidity was only withdrawn during the year. This is a great fuel for risky assets.”

- After the aforementioned bankruptcy of these two banks, the BTC rate jumped by more than 30%. This made market participants think again about the potential of cryptocurrency as a tool for capital protection. Meanwhile, CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer continued to criticize the cryptocurrency industry. In the latest episode of his show, he expressed his skepticism regarding the coin's latest price rally. The host also called bitcoin a "strange animal". In his opinion, cryptocurrencies are secretly manipulated by large financial institutions and wealthy investors. “Please don’t think that everything happens by itself,” Cramer warned the audience, adding that he never believed in bitcoin.

- The US Treasury has called for the introduction of an excise duty for mining companies in the amount of 30% of the cost of electricity consumed. This is stated in the Green Book of the department. The tax is planned to be introduced in stages over the next three years, increasing by 10% each year. In addition, miners will be required to report how much electricity and what power they use. The new excise is expected to reduce the total number of mining devices in the US.
Another provision concerns individuals. The US Treasury is proposing that people with foreign financial accounts holding more than $50,000 worth of cryptocurrencies report those assets on their tax returns. Among other things, the agency is discussing the possibility of assessing the market value of digital assets and is proposing to expand the rules for securities lending to include cryptocurrencies.

- Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, one of the largest crypto exchanges, has revealed the content of her investment portfolio. “I have a cryptocurrency portfolio. About 41% is in BTC and ETH, 38% in USDT and USDC, 12% in BGB (this is the Bitget platform token). The rest is small amounts in such altcoins as BLUR, SHIB/DOGE, MANA/SAND, DODO, AVAX, YFI. I look forward to buying more BGB and BTC when the price drops. I have some NFTs, but they are not avatar pictures. I bought artistic NFTs, for example, VR paintings by French artist Anna Zhilyaeva. They are exclusively for my personal collections and not for speculation,” she admitted. 
According to Gracy Chen, ethereum will face increased volatility and a pullback in the next 2-7 months after a short-term market rise. Due to the lack of external liquidity, as well as the fact that current investors are more speculative, in the medium term, the ethereum price may move in the range from $1,200 to $2,000. “Capital inflows into the cryptocurrency market will begin to increase ahead of the bitcoin halving. ETH is expected to reach strong resistance in the $2,400-$3,500 range in 2024,” the expert believes.

- The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned of scammers who create fake mobile gaming apps and use them to steal crypto assets. Criminals position their apps as blockchain games based on the Play-to-Earn concept. Attackers contact victims online and invite them to play online games where players can be rewarded in crypto assets for certain actions (Play-to-Earn). For example, for growing crops on a virtual farm. 
To take part in the game, victims need to download the game app, create a cryptocurrency wallet and buy assets. The more funds a user keeps in their gaming account, the greater their reward will be in the game, the scammers convince. When users stop topping up their account, criminals empty their wallets with malware that is activated when the game is downloaded. 

- US Congressman Tom Emmer has once again opposed the launch of the state cryptocurrency. According to him, the digital dollar can be "easily weaponized" and used to spy on US citizens and to "crush politically unpopular activities."
The congressman noted that the cryptocurrency economy worries the US authorities, as it “takes power from centralized government institutions and returns it to the people.” Therefore, the idea of a controlled state cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly popular with regulators and law enforcement agencies.

- Henrik Zeberg, a trader and well-known macro analyst, has assessed the correlation between the US unemployment rate, the NAHB housing index, the stock market index and cryptocurrencies. The expert has noted the frightening similarity of the current scenario with the crisis of 1929, and has added that the markets are approaching an economic collapse that will drag on for several years. According to him, all markets were "extremely overheated, and the next recession could be much more serious than in 2007-2009." According to the analyst, the cryptocurrency market will also be hit very hard, and many digital coins will not withstand the pressure.
Zeberg has presented a forecast for a macroeconomic recession based on the Elliott wave theory. According to the study, wave 4 could reach its maximum level in early 2024. After that, large financial markets will be doomed to collapse. The specialist has emphasized that all attention should be focused on the economic performance of the third and fourth quarters of 2023, which could be the last bullish period of this market cycle.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Numerous studies show that despite the unpredictability of the cryptocurrency market, the number of active female investors is only growing every year. The volume of crypto assets traded by women increased from 15.2% in 2021 to 18.5% in 2022. And this happened at a time when the market was facing massive bankruptcies, liquidations and tightening of monetary policy by Central Banks.
According to statistics, female investors choose bitcoin in 21.6% of cases, followed by Tether USD with 21%. Ethereum, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin have also become popular assets. The most active age group is between 25 and 35 years old. The average net worth of a female investor in the UK is estimated at £9,650. And women cite the desire for financial independence as a key reason for investing in digital assets.

- Egyptian authorities arrested 29 people, including 13 foreign nationals, who stole more than $600,000 using the HoggPool scam network. The attackers launched an online platform in August 2022 and lured customers with the promise of “great financial gains” from cryptocurrency transactions. HoggPool went out of business in February, its organizers disappeared with clients' money. But then, the attackers were arrested when they reappeared with the intention of launching the Riot platform.
Back in early 2018, Egypt's chief mufti, Sheikh Shawki Allam, banned trading in crypto assets. It is illegal to engage in such activities in Egypt: you can get a prison term and a fine of up to $325,000. Despite this, Egyptian interest in cryptocurrencies remains high due to economic problems in the country. 

- Michael Van De Poppe, CEO and founder of Eight Global, noted the importance of the next few weeks for bitcoin and allowed it to fall below $20,000.
Digital gold is holding in the $22,000-25,000 range so far. Crypto market capitalization has tested the highs of 2017, with the result that, according to van de Poppe, he is now “looking for a higher bottom.” According to the expert’s forecast, if the indicator falls below the 200-week moving average, the price of bitcoin will fall to $19,700.
 “Capitalization could drop to $860 million, pulling the entire market down by another 15%,” he warned.

- The executives of S&P Solutions, which operated under the Bitcoin of America brand, were accused of manufacturing and installing unlicensed Bitcoin ATMs used for fraud. According to the US Attorney's Office, the company's ATMs were not protected against money laundering, which is why they were actively used by various intruders. “S&P Solutions received a 20% commission for each transfer and continued to do so even after learning about fraudulent transactions,” the prosecutor’s office noted.
For reference, Bitcoin of America operates over 2,600 cryptocurrency ATMs in 35 states and is the fourth largest manufacturer of these devices in the country.

- The lack of clear regulation of the crypto industry in the United States threatens that companies will go abroad and offshore. This, in turn, will have a negative impact on users who “will remain vulnerable to fraudsters.” This opinion was expressed in an interview with Bloomberg by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. He emphasized the importance of adopting a legislative framework and clear regulation of cryptocurrencies, which, in his opinion, will contribute to the growth of the industry. Garlinghouse cited Ripple's legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an example of the imperfection of the law, which showed how much the United States lags behind other countries in this direction.

- Arthur Hayes, former CEO and co-founder of the BitMEX crypto exchange, believes that the bitcoin rally will start at a time when the global economy is in an oil crisis. In his opinion, a sharp increase in hydrocarbon prices will create conditions for the growth of digital assets and, first of all, bitcoin.
Hayes's logic is as follows: against the background of geopolitical tensions in the world, demand for energy resources will increase, as oil exporters are likely to reduce production. In this situation, the United States, as a leading economic power, will have to increase its own oil production. The Fed will need to ease the monetary rate to stimulate business activity in the energy sector. As soon as the regulator starts lowering rates, capital will return to risky assets, including cryptocurrencies. In addition, the former head of BitMEX recalled that the limited supply of BTC will also contribute to its growth, as the US dollar will lose ground.
For the record: Arthur Hayes was charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act in 2022 and sentenced to six months of house arrest, two years of probation, and a $10 million fine.

- More than 90% of bitcoins are currently in circulation, but the asset's inflation rate has dropped significantly in recent years. It is now at least three times lower than that of the US dollar. This allows BTC to act as a possible hedge against capital depreciation and economic uncertainty. According to the WooBull analytical platform, the inflation rate of the first cryptocurrency has been steadily decreasing since its creation in 2009 and amounted to 1.79% as of March 4. At the same time, the same indicator for USD reached 6.4% in 2023, which is 3.57 times higher than that of BTC. 
The decrease in bitcoin inflation is due to the asset's deflationary model, supported by halvings, which reduce the speed of coin mining and halve miners' rewards. Experts also believe that this figure remains low due to the decentralization of BTC, which avoids most of the political and economic risks typical for the US dollar. On the contrary, the USD inflation rate will grow. This is primarily due to an excessive increase in the money supply, a decrease in demand and/or a reduction in production. 

- Nicholas Merten, a well-known crypto analyst and presenter of the DataDash YouTube channel, has not ruled out a new major fall in ethereum. In his opinion, if we take into account previous bear markets when forecasting, ETH could fall by more than 90% from its historical high, that is, find itself at the level of several hundred dollars.
“ETH/USD has a long way to go. “We're only 67% from the record,” Merten says. “And if we see again what we had in previous bear markets, say, a 92 percent correction or a 94 percent correction, then the price of ETH will drop to several hundred dollars. The difference is huge, from $870 to about $500.”
Merten added that the current ETH price action looks very weak, as the altcoin has been stuck in a fairly narrow range for several months and cannot overcome the significant resistance at $1,800.

- Analysts at Santiment have identified massive negative sentiment towards cryptocurrencies. Experts find it difficult to establish the main reason for achieving such high levels. The researchers have noted that the cryptocrash hashtag trended on Twitter long before the 5% drop in the price of bitcoin, which occurred last Friday, March 03. Some members of the crypto community attributed the negative sentiment to problems with the Silvergate crypto bank and the recent SEC statement that all altcoins could be classified as securities.
The good news for investors, according to Santiment analysts, is that the total negative led to a noticeable rebound in prices previously. Felix Zulauf, the founder of hedge fund Zulauf Consulting, has suggested that bitcoin will move into a clear bullish rally sometime in late spring. The expert does not rule out that the asset could reach $100,000 on a sharp uptrend. He emphasized that bitcoin is now in the initial phase of a bullish cycle, which is confirmed by numerous on-chain metrics.

- Despite the bearish dynamics, Credible Crypto experts also remain optimistic about the medium-term prospects for the flagship crypto asset. In their opinion, bitcoin may update its historical extremum this year. However, the asset will face several hurdles before a steady bullish trend begins. Credible Crypto agrees that last year's bankruptcies are having a negative impact on the industry. However, about 73% of all BTC coins are concentrated in the hands of experienced holders who can withstand difficult times.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Regulation of the crypto market was one of the topics finance ministers and central bankers discussed at the G20 meeting chaired by India last weekend. As a result, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that regulation of the crypto industry is important, while Washington is not considering a complete ban. “It is very important to create a reliable regulatory framework. And we are working [on this] with other governments,” she said in an interview with Reuters. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva agrees with her colleague: her organization also advocates for adequate regulation of digital assets and against their complete ban.

- Michael van de Poppe, the CEO of Eight, believes that bitcoin is currently the most undervalued asset. He has released a video review in which he predicts the growth of the coin to $40,000 this year. This forecast has been made against the background of recent news, according to which inflation in the US showed its teeth again: the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index (PCE) was 4.7% against the forecast of 4.3%. It has already been said that because of this, the Fed may raise the interest rate by 50 basis points in March and not by 25 bps, as previously expected.
According to cryptocurrency screener Cryptovizor, bitcoin reached a local high on February 21, and then began to fall. However, both the aggravation of macroeconomic data and the rollback of BTC quotes failed to dampen Van de Poppe's optimism. From his point of view, a pronounced bullish divergence on the weekly chart indicates that we have already reached the bottom. What is happening now is just a bounce off the 200-week moving average and consolidating. According to the trader, a sideways movement is most likely at this stage. In the worst case scenario, BTC/USD will fall to the low of the $18,000 range, and this fall will be a great investment opportunity.
According to Van de Poppe, there is no recession at the moment, but it may begin due to the collapse of the debt market and the real estate market. But before that happens, bitcoin could rise to $40,000, as the crisis usually unfolds 6-12 months after the Fed's significant rate hike. The signal for the start of a new bull rally could be either the lifting of the mining ban in China, or the adoption of cryptocurrency in Hong Kong.

- “Despite the tumultuous events of the past year, US cryptocurrency ownership has remained largely unchanged since hitting an all-time high in early 2022. More than 50 million people in the country own cryptocurrencies, and 76% of them believe that this type of asset and blockchain technology are the future. 67% believe that the current financial system needs a major reboot. These conclusions were reached by Morning Consult experts based on the results of a survey commissioned by Coinbase.
Based on the survey results, Coinbase plans to focus on the development of the industry. The exchange intends to work with politicians and companies in the field of traditional finance, as well as launch an educational campaign explaining the role that cryptocurrencies can play in the renewal of the financial system. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has previously stated that he wants to increase the global cryptocurrency user base to one billion people.

- Investors are again showing an active interest in cryptocurrencies. According to the analytical company Glassnode, the 30-day inflow of capital into the market has exceeded the outflow for the first time in 9 months and has returned to the “green” zone. The cumulative net realized market value position has also turned positive for the first time since April 2022. Over the past nine months, the metric has shown negative values.
According to analysts, another positive indicator is the fall in the number of bitcoin whale wallets to a three-year low. This means that the asset has become more distributed and less concentrated among a handful of large holders. This option is preferable for the entire ecosystem, as it eliminates the possibility of market manipulation by several players. 
Glassnode also reported On February 27 that the percentage of active BTC supply just hit an all-time high of 28.2%. This suggests that the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies is steadily increasing despite the bear market and challenging times for the global economy.

- A 51-year-old American admitted during the trial that he tried to shoot down a bitcoin ATM for the benefit of the people. Last year, Matthew K. walked into the Vapor Maven store in Jefferson City, pulled out a gun, and fired five bullets at the ATM. Returning home, he told his wife about his act and called the police himself. Matthew explained his stunt by the hatred he feels for bitcoin ATMs. The unfortunate killer said that he decided to shoot the device so that "it could no longer take money from anyone." Despite such noble intentions, the court found Matthew guilty of damaging property and sentenced him to five years of probation. (For reference: the first Bitcoin ATM appeared in the US in October 2013, and there are now more than 35,000 of them).

- Robert Kiyosaki, author of a number of books on investing, including the bestseller Rich Dad Poor Dad, has long been a critic of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy and expressed concerns about dollar devaluation. And now the writer has made a bold statement that, in his opinion, the fake dollar is leading to the decline of the American empire. This stance of Kiyosaki has drawn approval from the crypto community as it shows the benefits of bitcoin. Experts note that digital assets such as BTC, unlike fiat currencies, are not subject to inflationary pressure, since their supply is limited and predetermined by appropriate algorithms.
Recall that Kiyosaki has recently predicted that the bitcoin rate will rise to $500,000 by 2025. “A giant crash is coming. Depression is possible. The Fed has been forced to print billions in counterfeit money. Gold at $5,000, silver at $500, and bitcoin at $500,000 by 2025,” he wrote. And he added that gold and silver are the money of the gods, and bitcoin is like a dollar for ordinary people.

- Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, said in a recent interview that he is “epically optimistic for the next three years.” In his opinion, there will be a massive adoption of cryptocurrency in 2023-2025 and its prices will grow. “This bull market cycle is going to be the biggest cycle in terms of user adoption, in terms of the cumulative increase in market capitalization, in terms of just about every other thing we care about,” the financier says. “But it won’t happen perfectly up and to the right.” Also, “I'm actually optimistic about regulation,” Matt Hougan added.

– Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has changed his mind about bitcoin over the past few years. He called BTC "digital gold" in 2018. However, he said a year later that the fall of the crypto market reminded him of the dot-com crisis of the early 2000s.
Steve Wozniak was once again bullish this week. He predicted a BTC surge to $100,000. In his opinion, the main cryptocurrency has a huge potential and will increase in value in the coming years. “Currently, only a small percentage of the world’s population owns bitcoin, so the infrastructure is expanding at an extremely slow pace. However, its adoption will accelerate in the future, both the number of BTC holders and users of projects deployed in the DeFi and NFT markets will increase,” Wozniak believes. At the same time, the co-founder of Apple admitted that he  has less than 1 BTC, and he does not plan to make money on investments in cryptocurrency.

- The government of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), one of the UAE's emirates, plans to create a free zone for companies in the digital asset industry. The National News writes about this. According to the statement, RAK Digital Assets Oasis will become a hub for unregulated activities of industry participants. Applications will be accepted as early as Q2 2023.

- The correlation of cryptocurrencies with US stocks and macroeconomic indicators is weakening against the backdrop of the current flat movement in the price of bitcoin. It is reported by The Block, referring to the opinion of analysts from the investment company Bernstein. According to them, the market is balancing between bulls and bears, "waiting for further catalysts", and its susceptibility to events in the world of traditional finance "is not the same as before." The first cryptocurrency's correlation with the Nasdaq Composite index has fallen from 0.94 to 0.58 since early February.
The analysts also point out that the hurdles created by regulators are bearish for the market, as is the lack of institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, the weakening of the correlation with the stock market is a bullish signal.

- The crypto market performed much better at the beginning of 2023 than most of its participants and experts expected. These are the findings of Bank of America researchers. They have published a report in which they emphasize that the market capitalization of digital coins and tokens has grown by 42% to $1.1 trillion. At the same time, Bank of America strategists remain cautious about further capitalization growth, as high dollar interest rates could put serious pressure on digital assets.

- We wrote earlier that Charles Munger, vice chairman of the holding company Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett's right-hand man, called “idiots” anyone who disagrees with him regarding a complete ban on cryptocurrencies. The 99-year-old billionaire said that crypto assets are nothing more than gambling and called them “rat poison”. He also urged the US authorities to follow in the footsteps of China and ban cryptocurrencies. 
And now he received an answer from Elon Musk. The Tesla founder said that Munger considered investing in the company in 2008, when it was valued at just $200 million, but declined. Now, Tesla's current capitalization is about 3,000 times that amount. In this regard, Chris Burniske, an analyst and former head of cryptography at ARK Invest, noted caustically that Munger knows exactly how to miss the chance to make 1000x profit.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- FTX CTO Nishad Singh plans to plead guilty to fraud for his role in the crashed exchange and is discussing a possible deal with prosecutors, Bloomberg reports. Two other associates pleaded guilty to charges related to the collapse of FTX in December, but the head of the exchange, Sam Bankman-Freed, has not made a deal with the investigators.
Singh created the platform software and played an important role in the daily operations of FTX. He was part of Bankman-Freed's inner circle, living with him in a penthouse in the Bahamas. Singh has donated over $9.3 million to US Democratic candidates since 2020 and has also received hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from Alameda.

- The number of addresses with a balance of 1000 BTC or more has dropped to August 2019 levels. According to the analytical company Glassnode, there are 2,024 such whales (as of February 20, 2023). The number of addresses in this category peaked in February 2021, about 2,500. Then, despite the rally of bitcoin to an all-time high near $69,000, the indicator began to decline.
The number of addresses with a balance of 10,000 BTC or more (from $240 million at current prices) is stable near the peaks corresponding to the values of November 2022 and October 2018. There are currently 115 such “mega-whale” wallets in total. But the number of smaller addresses (from 1 BTC) keeps to update the highs. Their number increased by 20% during the year, approaching 982,000.

- The Russian Bureau of Interpol officers, at the request from the United States, detained in Moscow a 31-year-old Briton who helped North Korea circumvent sanctions and advised members of the DPRK government on ways to withdraw funds abroad using cryptocurrencies. 

- Vice Chairman of the legendary holding company Berkshire Hathaway Charlie Munger, who is Warren Buffett's right-hand man, called those who disagree with him on the cryptocurrencies ban "idiots". “I'm not proud of my country [USA] for allowing this crap. It's just ridiculous that someone is buying this [digital assets]," the 99-year-old billionaire said. - This is not good. It's crazy. It only hurts. And it's antisocial." Munger has previously urged the US authorities to follow China's lead and ban digital assets. In his opinion, they cannot be attributed either to currencies, or to goods, or to securities.

- Kevin O'Leary, investor, journalist and host of the hit show Shark Tank, called on crypto exchanges to work more closely with government regulatory agencies. He stated that “American financial regulators are tired” of watching the wave of company bankruptcies in the cryptocurrency industry. And they treat such firms much more harshly now. Therefore, any business in this area should be more careful. 
“You should work with regulators. No need to stand in the way of the SEC and other agencies. These guys in Washington are pretty mean. The collapse of FTX kicked the bear. It woke up and was furious. Senators are really tired: they are tired of meeting every six months when another large cryptocurrency firm collapses. They are fed up with the fact that the industry is not regulated, and everyone can issue their own useless tokens,” said this Canadian entrepreneur.
Kevin O'Leary believes that regulated companies will attract significantly more investment than their unregulated rivals. And in general, unregulated companies run the risk of going bankrupt through the actions of officials. Kevin O'Leary had earlier stated that most crypto assets have no intrinsic value and will collapse to zero in the near future.

- Alex Gladstein, the director of the Human Rights Foundation, said In a recent interview that the first cryptocurrency is able to limit the power of states with "collapsed democracy" and deprive them of the ability to control people. According to him, bitcoin prevents "tyrannical governments" from imposing their will on the people. “Bitcoin restores democracy. Bitcoin is about free speech, property rights, and open capital markets. What do authoritarian countries need? Quite the opposite: censorship, confiscation and closed capital markets,” Gladstein said.

- Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist and creator of the Internet, URL, HTTP and HTML, has criticized cryptocurrencies as dangerous speculative tools for market manipulation. According to the inventor, the Internet should exist without blockchain. The engineer is sure that this technology is not so fast and safe.
In his opinion, crypto assets are very similar to the dot-com bubble, when a large number of Internet companies closed 20 years ago without a fundamental basis for business development. Berners-Lee believes that digital currencies can only be suitable for money transfers if they are immediately converted into fiat currencies upon receipt.

- Bitcoin has the potential to become the digital gold of the 21st century, Deutsche Bank analyst Marion Laboure says, adding that it is important to be mindful of the risks associated with the first cryptocurrency. She recalls that people have always looked for assets that were not controlled by governments, and gold has played this role for centuries.
Laboure is sure that the main problems of cryptocurrencies are the lack of regulation and the environmental consequences of mining. “For example, bitcoin mining requires about the same amount of electricity in a year as the entire population of Pakistan uses, about 217 million people!”

- Asian investors may push bitcoin quotes up, Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of the Gemini crypto exchange, thinks. His thesis is that the next phase of price growth will occur in the East, and the US will have to adjust to new conditions. Recall that according to Chainalysis, the Asia-Pacific region already ranks third in the world in terms of cryptocurrency investments.

- According to Matrix analysts, the price of bitcoin is able to rise to $29,000 by the summer and to $45,000 by the end of this year. However, this will happen under the condition of a further slowdown in the growth rate of consumer inflation in the United States. Matrix notes that the price of the cryptocurrency has recently risen above $25,000 several times. Analysts see this as a positive signal, as BTC's rise has taken place despite the negative news on the tightening of cryptocurrency regulations in the US and Europe.
Speaking about their forecast, Matrix also refers to the “January effect”: price success in the first month often predetermines the movement of the main cryptocurrency throughout the year. In addition, experts recalled that historically, the price of bitcoin tests the lows 12-15 months before the next halving. This time, such period was December 2022 - March 2023.
Plan B also speaks about a possible rally. According to his estimates, bitcoin could test the $42,000 level as early as March.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Cryptocurrency entrepreneurs should consider moving to a country with favorable regulation of the bitcoin industry. This was stated by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. He considers Dubai (UAE), Bahrain and France to be such jurisdictions. Zhao added that newcomers to the industry will definitely need legal advice in order to "not cross any of the red lines" set by regulators.
This advice came against the background of tightening regulation of the industry by the US authorities. In particular, we are talking about an investigation launched by the New York State Department of Financial Services against infrastructure company Paxos. The regulator later ordered the firm to stop issuing the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin. The SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) also announced its readiness to sue Paxos. 
The CEO of Binance was supported by Uniswap founder Hayden Adams. “It is a shame to watch the US efforts in the cryptosphere. Innovative companies get an additional incentive to go abroad. It's like if the government banned the development of the Internet 30 years ago,” he wrote.

- According to Politico, Senator Elizabeth Warren has begun building a coalition against cryptocurrencies and is actively recruiting conservative Republicans in the US Senate. By doing so, she wants to support her bills, which could have serious consequences for the crypto industry, and which imply tighter restrictions in the fight against money laundering, including additional requirements for verifying the identity of consumers. Warren positions herself as a leading digital asset legislator and enjoys the backing of the banking lobby.
The US Department of the Treasury is currently actively monitoring cases of illegal funding using cryptocurrencies. The Warren bill will extend these obligations to other agencies and entities, including service providers in the digital asset segment.

- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sent 99 ETH (~$155,000 at the time of writing) to Ahbap, a non-profit organization that raises money to help earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. According to Ahbap's official website, the organization has already raised over $4.2 million in cryptocurrencies.
According to the latest data, the disaster has claimed the lives of more than 25,000 people. More than 80,000 people have been injured in Turkey alone. The series of earthquakes has become the largest since 2010 in terms of the number of victims. 

- Investor and star of the TV show Shark Tank, Kevin O'Leary, said on The Wolf of All Streets podcast that most of the 10,000 digital assets are worthless. “They will eventually fall to zero due to the lack of volatility and [trading] volume. They are not needed,” he announced his verdict. O'Leary also talked about losing all of his crypto investments after the FTX crash in November 2022. However, after that, he has already opened new positions in bitcoin, ethereum and 5 other assets (previously his portfolio included 32 positions).

- The South Korean authorities have included in the sanctions list a number of North Korean hacker groups and individuals associated with cyber attacks and cryptocurrency theft. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Seoul. The sanctions came just hours after South Korea and the United States announced a cybersecurity joint venture.
In particular, hackers working in the information technology sector at the North Korean company Chosun Expo Joint Venture were blacklisted. It is alleged to be a shell company associated with the Lazarus Group. North Korean hackers have stolen more than $1.2 billion worth of virtual assets since 2017, including $626 million in 2022, according to information provided by the Foreign Ministry.

- Former Goldman Sachs CEO Raoul Pal believes Ethereum is destined to reach a five-digit price in the next bull market. The macro expert has set a target price for ethereum around $10,000, primarily due to the good potential of the token. However, he believes that some of the main competitors will surpass him. “ETH is the money of the internet. And I do not think that it will lose this status, but this does not mean that this is the best player, - said the financier. - Solana, I think, aims for the widest possible adoption, making it convenient for the consumer. […] However, ETH is the easiest way because it probably has the least risk.” 

- According to technical analysis by CryptoQuant expert Grizzly, BTC/USD has formed a unique pattern that has previously been observed at market lows. The specialist added the 200-day SMA and the realized price to the long-term chart and concluded that this could be a sign of a long-term uptrend. According to his observations, this was especially evident in 2019, 2015 and 2012.
At the same time, Grizzly noted that macroeconomic factors that put pressure on high-risk asset markets should not be overlooked. It is not known whether bitcoin will be able to “separate” from assets such as stocks and demonstrate “decent behavior” as a reliable hedge against inflation. According to the expert, only time will tell if the largest cryptocurrency maintains its upward trajectory. 

- Another popular Twitter analyst, Kaleo, with 563,000 followers, also shared his prediction about the near future of bitcoin and ethereum. The analyst believes that a price of $30,000 is still possible for bitcoin. Ethereum, in his opinion, will repeat the movement of 2018-2020. The price of this altcoin rose from $80 to $480 then. At the time of writing the review, the ETH exchange rate is $1,580. According to Kaleo's calculations, the target level is located almost twice as high: around $3,000.

- The number of users of the first cryptocurrency will grow from the current over 300 million to 1 billion in the next three years. This would be riughly 12% of the world's population. This forecast was given by well-known analyst Willy Woo. He recalled that it took six months for bitcoin to form an audience of the first 1,000 users. It took five years for that number to rise to 1 million. The network achieved its current figures of more than 300 million, 13.8 years after the formation of the genesis block. For comparison, Woo cited the audience of PayPal (430 million people) and Twitter (400 million, most of which, he believes, are bots).

- Robert Kiyosaki, author of the bestselling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, stated that the price of bitcoin will rise to $500,000 by 2025. “A giant crash is coming. Depression is possible. The Fed has been forced to print billions in counterfeit money. Gold at $5,000, silver at $500, and bitcoin at $500,000 by 2025,” he wrote. And he added that gold and silver are the money of the gods, and bitcoin is like a dollar for ordinary people.
Prior to this, Anthony Scaramucci, founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, said that the value of one bitcoin on the exchange could double to $50,000 over the next two to three years. Scaramucci called 2023 a “recovery year” for bitcoin.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- North Korean hackers stole a record amount in cryptocurrencies in 2022 and targeted the networks of foreign aerospace and defense companies. This is reported by Reuters with reference to a UN report. Cybersecurity specialists estimate the damage at more than $1 billion. At the same time, Chainalysis analysts believe that the attacks have brought the DPRK about $1.7 billion in cryptocurrencies over the past year.
Most of the attacks were carried out by cybercriminals controlled by North Korea's Main Intelligence Bureau. These include Kimsuky, Lazarus Group and Andariel. They distributed malware in various ways, including phishing. “Initial contacts with individuals were made through LinkedIn, and once a level of trust with the targets was established, the malware was delivered via WhatsApp,” the UN notes, adding that the methods of hackers have become more sophisticated, making it more difficult to trace the stolen assets.

- Morgan Creek investment company CEO Mark W. Yusko, said in an interview with Cointelegraph that the next bull market could start as early as Q2 2023. This will be facilitated by favorable macroeconomic conditions and expectations of bitcoin halving.
According to the top manager, the US Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut the key rate in the near future. However, even a slowdown or pause in this process will be perceived as a positive signal for risky assets, which include cryptocurrencies.
The CEO of Morgan Creek indicated the expectations of the next bitcoin halving, which is expected to take place around April 19-21, 2024, as an additional reason for the bull market He believes that the recovery of the digital asset market usually begins nine months before this event, that is, it is the end of summer 2023 this time. 

- Cathy Wood, the head of ARK Invest, still considers the first cryptocurrency the best form of protection against financial losses and an insurance policy for developing countries. “We're seeing hyperinflation around the world as fiat currencies crash. All segments of the population need a fallback, an insurance policy like bitcoin,” she said in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
According to Cathy Wood, all segments of the population, both the poor and the wealthy, will benefit from the use of digital gold. As for the latter, she pointed to bitcoin as a hedge against capital forfeiture in countries like China or Russia.

- MicroStrategy, a developer of analytical software and one of the largest crypto investors, recorded a balance sheet loss for 2022 in the amount of $1.3 billion. This is due to its long-term investment in bitcoin. (As of December 31, 2022, MicroStrategy held a total of 132,500 BTC worth $1.84 billion).
At the same time, the company's management states that it does not plan to stop trading the digital asset. According to Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor, it has “managed to surpass bitcoin as an index” since the company first announced its purchase of BTC in August 2020: its shares have risen by 117% during this time, while the value of bitcoin has increased by 98%.

- Commenting on the collapse of Alameda and FTX, Michael Saylor said that he sees this as a kind of manifestation of Darwin's theory: weak and bad players left the market, and this pushed the industry forward in the long run. At the same time, according to the co-founder of MicroStrategy, cryptocurrencies need a clear regulatory framework for companies to comply with certain standards and protect customers. “What is really needed is supervision. Clear guidance from Congress is needed for the industry to have its own Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock. We need clear rules of conduct from the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) of the United States.”

- David Marcus, former head of Meta's blockchain division and former PayPal president, suggested that crypto winter will only end by 2025, when the market recovers from last year's turmoil. He believes that the time will soon pass when you can create a token out of thin air and earn millions of dollars from it. Much more value will be given to decentralized applications that have practical value for the real world. Marcus expects big breakthroughs in payments, asset tokenization, and decentralized finance (DeFi). However, the specialist doubts that the legislature will be able to develop rules for regulating cryptocurrencies in the near future, therefore, crypto companies will continue to operate in a "vacuum" in 2023, at their own peril and risk.

- Charlie Munger, an associate of Warren Buffett, vice president of the Berkshire Hathaway holding company, called on the US authorities to destroy bitcoin, which the billionaire compares investing in to gambling. He said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the cryptocurrency industry is undermining the stability of the global financial sector. And that BTC cannot be considered an asset class as it has no value.
Munger has been expressing this point of view over the past few years. And now he calls on the US authorities to deal a devastating blow to the crypto market. In his opinion, it is necessary to push it into the strictest regulatory framework, as a result of which the industry will simply not withstand the pressure and die.

- Crypto trader and investor Tone Vays stated that bitcoin “has risen very fast and very high.” BTC rose from a low of $16,272 in November 2022 to $24,229 in early February 2023 and is now facing major resistance as it approaches the $25,000 level. The specialist believes that BTC will eventually break through the resistance zone, but the asset probably “should take a break” at the moment. Weiss clarified that he expects either consolidation of the rate in a narrow range, or a small pullback.
Many experts are also keeping a close eye on the $25,000 level. For example, analyst Benjamin Cowen believes that bitcoin is on the verge of a potential trend change that could lead to a rise in quotes, as it did in 2019. The legendary trader Peter Brandt predicted earlier that the exit from the “double bottom support” technical analysis pattern would lead the coin to rise above $25,000.

- According to statistics, the media forecast of crypto community members accurately predicted the value of bitcoin by the end of each month, over the past six months with a probability of up to 75%. Finbold experts note that the forecasts obtained from a survey of more than 15 thousand traders, and the predictions of machine learning algorithms, are seriously different at the moment. Real people expect BTC quotes to fall to $20,250 by February 28, 2023, while artificial intelligence points to $24,342. 

- Swiss Rehabilitation Center The Balance has offered a course of treatment for addiction to crypto trading. According to some reports, about 1% of crypto traders have such a serious pathological addiction. The course is designed for a four-week stay in the center itself or in its branches in Mallorca, London or Zurich. The cost of treatment exceeds $75,000. Anna Lembke, professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, said the course is similar to treating a gambling addiction. At the same time, she called such a high cost of treatment unjustified.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Bitcoin has had its best start to the year since January 2013. The rate rose by 51% then, the growth was 40% last month. It happened against the backdrop of the weakness of the US dollar. “At the same time, 85% of the contribution to the rally is associated with investors from the United States,” says Markus Thielen, head of research at crypto services provider Matrixport. The bullish stance of US companies is also confirmed by the renewed premium in bitcoin futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. “We interpret this as a sign that faster institutional traders and hedge funds are actively buying back the recent fall in the cryptocurrency markets,” Thielen said.
Deutsche Digital Assets made a similar observation earlier, on January 20, drawing attention to the increase in Coinbase's premium as evidence of increased buying interest from sophisticated US investors. An institutional-led bullish reversal in bitcoin could be a good sign for the US stock market, given that the cryptocurrency bottomed a few weeks before the S&P 500.

- Binance Bitcoin Exchange reported that user interest in digital assets remains high. According to the survey, more than 88% of Binance customers plan to continue investing in cryptocurrencies, and only 3.3% do not consider this possibility. Bitcoin is still the dominant asset, owned by 21.7% of those surveyed. The top three also include Tether (17.8%) and BUSD (10.3%).
Over 40% of respondents bought digital assets last year for investment purposes. Other motives were the decline in the value of bitcoin and the general bearish trend. Almost 8% cited the geopolitical situation in the world as a reason for the purchase, and 11.5% expressed distrust of the traditional financial system. 40.8% do not use traditional investment opportunities (buying shares, investing in real estate, mutual funds), while 32.4% do use them. At the same time, 79.7% are sure that cryptocurrencies are necessary for the development of the global economy, and 59.4% of respondents believe that deposits in cryptocurrencies will be able to replace bank deposits over time.
According to statistics, the total number of digital wallets with a balance of $1,000 or more in bitcoin or ethereum has increased by 27% in 2022.

- Despite the fact that 2022 was a challenging year for the crypto industry, 82% of millionaires considered investing in digital assets like bitcoin. This follows from a survey conducted by financial consulting company deVere Group. The results of the survey, published on January 30, show that 8 out of 10 surveyed clients of the company, with assets to invest from $1.2 to $6.1 million, turned to financial advisers for cryptocurrency advice.
Nigel Green, CEO and Founder of the deVere Group, believes that while the group surveyed is “generally more conservative,” its interest stems from the core values of bitcoin: “digital, global, borderless, decentralized, and secure from unauthorized access". Green also notes a growing interest in crypto services from older financial institutions such as Fidelity, BlackRock and JPMorgan, and considers this a good sign for the industry. He predicts that the momentum of interest will build as the “crypto winter” of 2022 thaws due to changing conditions in the traditional financial system.
For the record: A June 2022 report by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers found that roughly a third of 89 traditional hedge funds surveyed had already invested in digital assets like bitcoin.

- The Fear and Greed Index, a metric showing the community's general attitude towards bitcoin, entered the “Greed” zone for the first time since March 30, 2022. This is due to the increase in the bitcoin rate in the first month of the year and the general revival of the entire market. It is worth noting, however, that the increased confidence among crypto investors should not be directly viewed as a catalyst for the resumption of bullish growth in the bitcoin price. In fact, a Fear or Extreme Fear metric could indicate a good buying opportunity, and too high a Greed reading could mean the market is headed for a downward correction.

- Tron founder Justin Sun said that the legalization of cryptocurrency will not only make it easier to buy and sell goods and services but will also give the public more control over their financial future. “Cryptocurrency can become a powerful tool for financial inclusion and improving the lives of people in all corners of the world. […] Let's work together to create a more inclusive and equal future for all,” wrote Justin Sun.
For the record: TRON is a decentralized entertainment content platform based on blockchain and using the TRX token. The platform also offers tools that allow developers to build and launch their own dApps.

- Jordan Belfort, a former stockbroker widely known as “The Wolf of Wall Street”, also believes that regulation of the digital asset segment may be a bullish catalyst for bitcoin in the future. According to the entrepreneur, the flagship cryptocurrency will only benefit from this. He also emphasized that if world governments continue to print money uncontrollably, more and more users will see bitcoin as a reliable tool to protect against inflation.

- The price of bitcoin on Nigeria's popular NairaEx exchange jumped in terms of local currency to almost $40,000, which is about 70% higher than the global market. The discrepancy is due to the limit imposed by the country's Central Bank on withdrawing funds from ATMs. The regulator took this step in order to reduce the share of cash in cash turnover.

- Arizona Senate Member Wendy Rogers has once again proposed approving bitcoin as legal tender in the state. In a tweet, Rogers quoted Goldman Sachs data that the first cryptocurrency is “the world's most profitable asset this year.” If the law is passed, the cryptocurrency will receive the same status as the US dollar.

- Billionaire founder of Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd Mike Novogratz, having endured a challenging 2022, is now determined to increase investment in bitcoin mining. His focus is Texas, where Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd is buying the Helios mining operation from Argo Blockchain for $65 million. 
There are currently almost 30 mining companies in Texas. In total, they have already created about 2,000 new jobs directly, and indirectly, about 20,000 more. The Governor's Blockchain Working Group believes that Texas, which leads in oil production, is able to maintain leadership in the US in bitcoin mining as well.

- According to Matrixport experts, the flagship cryptocurrency rate may reach $45,000 by Christmas 2023. Researchers released a report in which they shared a historical observation: when January's bitcoin quotes on the chart were in the “green” zone, the price rally usually continued in the following months of the year.

- A popular analyst Plan B has outlined a scenario that, in his opinion, could raise the bitcoin price to $1 million by 2025. As for this year, he predicts the price will rise above $100,000. The analyst also said that the January bitcoin pump confirms that the asset's 4-year cyclical price bottom is over.
Plan B is known for the "Stock-to-Flow" model, which attempts to model the price of bitcoin based on its scarcity. His concept involves a parabolic jump in the price of an asset every 4 years due to halving. That being said, the analyst was heavily criticized in 2022 due to an unfortunate prediction that BTC would rise well above $100,000 at the end of 2021. After that, he adjusted his model based on 18-month statistics, as a result of which a smoother growth of the main cryptocurrency was incorporated into it.

- Cryptocurrency analyst Benjamin Cowen said that bitcoin has a “long year” to look forward to. According to the expert, it may appear that BTC has significant strength, while in fact the asset is likely to be in the process of forming a wide sideways range as a base. Cowen explained that sideways movement is not always an indicator of the growth of the first cryptocurrency and may also signal a fall in quotes.
The analyst reminded traders that a bearish cycle is usually followed by a year of sideways movement. Thus, there were three upward impulses in 2015, and only the last one turned into a real rally. There were also periods of growth in quotes in 2019, then their active fall followed, and a cycle that brought the crypto market to new highs started only after that.
The analyst noted that 2023 can be seen as a year of accumulation and that investors can take advantage of this period to increase their holdings of BTC. In addition, Cowan believes that the US Federal Reserve should ease monetary policy in order to increase cryptocurrency prices.

- Peter Brand, a well-known cryptocurrency trader, has a bearish forecast for the near future, as BTC has not been able to gain a foothold above $23,500 for a long time and is in consolidation. As the expert noted, many traders and investors are now waiting for a certain pullback in order to enter the market at better prices. The specialist believes that the flagship of the crypto market may reach the level of $25,000 in the near future, after which there will be a correction closer to $19,000. Brand remains optimistic from a medium-term perspective, predicting bitcoin to rise to $65,000 in the middle of this year.

- This release of CryptoNews was prepared a few hours before the meeting of the US Federal Reserve, following which the decision on the key rate will be announced. If the rate, according to forecasts, increases by 0.25%, and at the same time the head of the Fed, Jerome Powell, clearly hints at the dovish attitude of the regulator, this will most likely weaken the dollar and push the quotes of risky assets, including cryptocurrencies, up. On the other hand, if, contrary to the expectations of investors, the refinancing rate rises by 0.50%, a wave of panic sales in the crypto market cannot be ruled out. You can find out what will actually happen in NordFX's regular analytical review, which, as usual, will be published at the end of the week.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan said on CNBC that he was not sure that the bitcoin issuance is really limited to 21 million coins. "How do you know? Maybe it will go up to 21 million, and Satoshi's photo will pop up and laugh at all of you,” he suggested. The top manager already publicly expressed skepticism in October 2022 regarding the code embedded in the algorithm of the first cryptocurrency. “Have you all read the algorithms? Guys, do you believe in all this?” Damon grinned at the time.
Given the programmed halvings, reaching the bar of 21 million should occur by 2141. At the same time, experts say that the limit on bitcoin emissions is provided by only five lines of the code. It is open for study, and anyone can verify this.

- According to Cathy Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, the cryptocurrency market will enter a new phase in 2023. The growth of bitcoin and other virtual currencies will be the result of the US Federal Reserve's easing of monetary policy in the second half of this year. It is this move that will become a trigger for investors testing stock markets and digital currencies. Earlier, Bloomberg strategist Mike McGlone expressed a similar point of view, pointing to the possibility of BTC rising to $30,000.

- Adam Farthing, Chief Risk Officer at crypto company B2C2, noted that the first cryptocurrency needs to overcome the key level at around $25,000 in order to continue the rally. “It will be a tough nut to crack,” the expert shared his opinion. According to him, after passing the designated milestone, interest will resume from outsiders who want to return to the market.
Analysts at the brokerage company Bernstein are convinced that such a rally is unlikely to continue at the moment, as there are no signs of “any new injections” into the industry. However, in their opinion, institutional capital will still begin to show more interest in cryptocurrency this year, as it becomes an increasingly regulated asset class.

- Brian Armstrong, head of crypto exchange Coinbase, called bitcoin “the right long-term bet” for Brazil and Argentina. According to the Financial Times, the two countries intend to create a single currency to reduce dependence on the US dollar and stimulate regional trade. The Argentine Minister of Economy spoke about plans to offer participation in the bloc to other Latin American countries. The FT estimates that the new union will cover approximately 5% of global GDP and will be the second largest in the world after the EU (14%). “I wonder if they would consider switching to bitcoin. That would probably be the right long-term bet,” Armstrong said.
Former Goldman Sachs executive and macro investor Raoul Pal criticized Armstrong's idea because of the volatility of the first cryptocurrency. “No one can currently afford a national currency with 100% volatility, which falls by 65% and rises tenfold. Businesses are fighting to plan and hedge this,” he wrote.

- The Binance exchange press service said that an unknown artist under the nickname Sabunir tried to sell his digital image for bitcoins for the first time in the world. This happened 13 years ago, on January 24, 2010. The picture was a desktop wallpaper for a personal computer and was designed in a resolution of 1280x960 pixels. Sabunir tweeted at the time that he wanted to try to earn some bitcoins. He priced his picture at $1 and stressed that he plans to get 500 BTC for it. It is not known whether this deal took place, but if it did, Sabunir would now be a wealthy man, as these coins are worth more than $11 million. 

- Carley Garner, senior commodity strategist & broker at DeCarley Trading, recommended staying away from virtual currencies and choosing gold instead as a hedge against rising inflation and economic chaos. Garner studied the daily chart of BTC and Nasdaq 100 futures since March 2021 carefully, and noted that the picture was almost identical, and the price movements were in sync. According to her, this indicated that bitcoin is more of a risky asset than a means of saving capital.
Garner's opinion was referred to by Jim Cramer of CNBC. “Mad Money” TV presenter also highlighted the risks associated with the flagship cryptocurrency in light of the collapse of the FTX marketplace. He noted that a similar situation could happen at any time with any other large crypto company. In his opinion, no one knows what the big players in the industry are really hiding. And there are no guarantees that they are actually honest with their customers. Any new scandal will cause a sharp drop in bitcoin quotes, which means that investors' assets are at risk.

- The first nuclear-powered bitcoin mining center will open in Pennsylvania (USA). Cumulus Data has completed construction of the country's first zero-carbon data center. The new data center will have a capacity of more than 40 MW, achieved through a direct connection to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in northeast Pennsylvania. In addition to server equipment for cloud computing, the data center will house equipment for mining the main cryptocurrency.
Cumulus Susquehanna is the first in Cumulus Data's future network of 18 combined data centers with a combined capacity of more than 470 MW. They will be used to deploy the first Nautilus Cryptomine mining complex in the United States, which operates exclusively on nuclear energy and produces “carbon-free crypto assets”.

- “Buying bitcoin at the end of the first day of the Chinese New Year and selling it ten trading days later guarantees an average profit of more than 9%,” Markus Thielen, director of research and strategy at Matrixport, found out. The scheme has been profitable in 100% of cases for the last eight years, from 2015 to 2022. Such an operation would bring the greatest profit in 2017: 15%. Even in 2018, against the backdrop of the previous crypto winter, the investor received income, although only 1%.
To implement the scheme In 2023, it was necessary to buy digital gold on January 22, and sell the assets 10 days later, on February 1. Bitcoin was trading near the $22,900 mark on the day of the proposed purchase, January 22. Thielen believes its price should approach $25,000 by the beginning of February.
We will soon find out whether the phenomenon will be justified this time. And if anyone decides to follow Thielen's recommendations in the future, we would like to inform you that the next Chinese New Year begins on Saturday, February 10, 2024.

- Nicholas Merten, a cryptocurrency analyst and creator of the DataDash channel, noted that cryptocurrencies have a bright future, but many people underestimate the global situation. The damage done by FTX, Celsius, Three Arrows Capital and Terraform Labs has left an indelible mark on the industry. In addition, the macroeconomic component should also be taken into account, since many countries are struggling with rapid inflation, and supply chains have not fully recovered after the coronavirus pandemic. According to the expert, investors need to understand that the long-term bullish trend is over. Unfortunately, the digital asset industry needs to prepare for new challenges, and the current bullish trend in the market is only a local correction within the overall bearish trend.

- Thanks to the recent bullish rally, the capitalization of the flagship cryptocurrency has exceeded $443 billion, and has surpassed all key traditional financial institutions, including global world banks, in this indicator. For example, the capitalization of the American banking giant JPMorgan Chase is $406.42 billion, while Bank of America has a capitalization of $277.56 billion. In addition, BTC is ahead of companies such as Alibaba ($317.01 billion), Samsung ($335.37 billion), Mastercard ($365.09 billion) and Walmart ($385.15 billion). However, it has slightly lost to Tesla ($454.72 billion).
According to CompaniesMarketCap, bitcoin is the 16th most valuable asset in the world. The leaders of the rating are gold ($12.77 trillion), Apple ($2.25 trillion) and Saudi Aramco ($1.94 trillion).


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Texas A&M University (USA) will launch an educational program dedicated to bitcoin in spring 2023. The Bitcoin Protocol course will be included in the educational program of students at such university schools as as May Business School and College Engineering. The initiative is based on the book Programming Bitcoin by Bitcoin Core developer Jimmy Song.

- Shaktikanta Das, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said during a speech at the BT Banking & Economy summit that digital assets should be completely banned in the country. “The position of the RBI is extremely clear: all cryptocurrencies should be banned. However, blockchain technology needs to be supported as it has many other uses,” he explained.
Das emphasized the unreliability of cryptocurrency due to constant price changes and the “ambiguity” of the definition. According to him, some consider it an asset, others consider it a financial product. However, according to the manager, “disguising a cryptocurrency as a financial product or asset” is inappropriate. As for changing the price of coins, this is 100% speculation and gambling, which, by the way, are prohibited in India.

- Unlike India, the US has a more loyal attitude towards cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. Thus, the country's Congress has created a new subcommittee that will deal with new rules for regulators regarding digital currencies, as well as develop policies to further promote digital financial technologies.
The new organization will be led by Republican Congressman French Hill, who previously led the Fintech and Artificial Intelligence Task Forces. Hill noted in his statement that at a time of significant technological advancement and change in the financial sector, the subcommittee's job is to promote responsible innovation by encouraging the development of FinTech in the country.

- Bank of America (BAC) researchers believe that digital currencies, CBDCs and stablecoins are a natural evolution of money and payments. Central bank digital currencies can “revolutionize global financial systems and may become the most significant technological achievement in the history of money.” 
BAC researchers believe that monetary regulators in developed and developing countries will focus on the efficiency of payments and their availability. However, some countries will not issue such means of payment even in the next ten years. But their central banks will have to “either innovate technologically or become irrelevant in the long term.”

- Kevin O'Leary, head of O'Leary Ventures and host of the TV show Shark Tank, expects even more crypto exchanges to crash in the industry. The reason for this, in his opinion, is people's ignorance. “If you ask me if there's going to be another crash to zero, 100% that's going to happen. And this is going to happen again and again... I don't think it's about regulation. It will not change the scale of fraud,” the investor said. Legislators are likely to put in place a solid regulatory framework soon, O'Leary said, but that won't do the industry any good.

- The value of bitcoin could increase to $50,000-100,000 over the next two to three years. This opinion was expressed in an interview with CNBC by the founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital Anthony Scaramucci. The businessman called 2023 a “recovery year” for the main cryptocurrency.
Of course, the decisions of the US Federal Reserve will influence the digital gold rate. And if the financial regulator takes measures to stimulate the economy in the middle of the year, this will be a good impetus for the rise in the bitcoin price. This is evidenced by the January price jump caused by US inflation data for December. The market decided based on this data that the Fed could significantly ease its monetary policy, as a result, BTC quotes went up sharply.

- Positive sentiment dominates the cryptocurrency market, and its total capitalization reached $1 trillion on January 16, for the first time in a long time. In turn, bitcoin is firmly held above $20,000. Analyst Craig Erlam noted that digital assets have become the main beneficiary during the current increase in risk appetite.
In his opinion, it is also possible to say that the industry has recovered from the recent FTX collapse. On the other hand, there are no specific fundamental grounds for the development of a bullish trend at the moment. In the current conditions, it is necessary to monitor the macroeconomic situation, as it will have a strong impact on the dynamics of digital assets. At the moment, the consensus forecast of market participants is based on the fact that following the results of the February meeting, the Fed will raise the refinancing rate by only 0.25%. In this case, the bullish mood in the cryptocurrency market is likely to receive serious support.

- Bloomberg Intelligence senior strategist Mike McGlone believes that the bottom in the cryptocurrency market has already been passed. But his opinion on the Fed's monetary policy differs from that of other analysts.
McGlone has noted that the charts are reminiscent of the 2018 dynamics, when the price of the first cryptocurrency rebounded from $5,000. However, the macroeconomic situation is now completely different, which is why the bitcoin growth may stop at current values. Thus, the NASDAQ index may continue to fall, and the correlation between bitcoin and the stock market has been quite significant in recent years. “We are still pulling liquidity from global markets, and there are reasons for this. And even if equities and other risky assets rise, liquidity will remain limited by central banks. The big difference from 2018 is that the Fed had already begun to ease its policy then, and we do not see any easing today,” the Bloomberg strategist explained.
“Look at the NASDAQ, the chart is breaking through the 200-week SMA. This has only happened 3 times in history, and the Fed has always eased its monetary policy. But the US Central Bank is aggressively tightening it now. The overall picture is optimistic for bitcoin, but the situation is unprecedented now, so anything can happen,” McGlone said.

- Legendary stock trader and analyst Peter Brandt, who, among other things, predicted the 2018 BTC correction accurately, gave a fresh forecast for the bitcoin movement in the short and long term.
According to the specialist, BTC will be able to realize growth to levels near $25,000 in the near future. After that, a correction is not ruled out by the end of spring, that will give the cryptocurrency strength for a new rally. As a result, the coin will reach its previous highs near $68,000 in the second half of 2023. After that, another correction and a subsequent update of the absolute high are possible.
Peter Brandt does not rule out bitcoin rising to $150,000 by early 2025. However, he warns that this is nothing more than his guess. Nobody knows how the main cryptocurrency will actually behave, according to the eminent trader.

- Peter Brandt was supported in this opinion by artificial intelligence (AI) of the ChatGPT test platform. This platform has become popular due to its ability to solve a wide range of tasks with high accuracy, including asset trading.
Experts from Finbold asked the artificial intelligence what the bitcoin price will be in 2030. Finbold suggested that ChatGPT would be able to provide a fairly accurate forecast based on historical BTC price data, market data, technical and fundamental analysis, and other indicators. But the AI didn't live up to expectations. It was never able to predict the exact rate and admitted that it is hard to name the price of the coin in the long term. The AI cited high market volatility and unclear regulatory rules as the reasons. However, the AI, like Peter Brandt, believes that the flagship cryptocurrency has potential for growth in the coming years. This will be possible due to the development of technology, the maturation of the cryptocurrency market and their massive 
distribution.

- Ben Armstrong, a popular cryptocurrency YouTuber, believes that the price of the flagship cryptocurrency will jump to $30,000 by the end of February 2023. However, analyst and investor Ali Martinez disagrees. According to him, miners have recently been actively selling their assets to lock in profits. In addition, according to the expert, traders trading on the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, massively opened short positions on BTC. According to analytical resources, as of the morning of January 17, 51% of the users of the trading platform had bitcoin shorts. This number then increased to 57%.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Nine months before the collapse of the FTX bitcoin exchange, its top management spent $40 million on luxury hotels, flights and food. Business Insider writes about this with reference to court documents. Thus, the founder of the stock exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, lived in a $30 million penthouse in the prestigious resort of Albany (New Providence, Bahamas) before his arrest. In addition, Bankman-Fried's parents, himself, and FTX executives have owned at least 19 luxury properties worth $121 million.

- The Hong Kong Financial Secretary announced that the jurisdiction is ready to accept cryptocurrency companies from around the world. The official noted that the authorities of this administrative region of China have recently completed work on a licensing regime for the industry. In accordance with the adopted rules, crypto companies are subject to the requirements that apply to the traditional financial sector. Earlier, the Hong Kong Financial Services and Treasury Bureau announced the introduction of regulatory mechanisms to protect investors.
Analysts expect that regulatory pressure on the crypto industry will increase in many countries in the coming year. The long-awaited law MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation) will come into force. Most likely, the SEC will also do something important in terms of regulating cryptocurrencies. And it is possible that such steps will help restore investors' interest and confidence in the industry, lost after the turmoil of 2022.

- Despite the recovery of cryptocurrency markets after the collapse of the FTX exchange, the situation with Binance has not yet returned to normal. According to a recent Forbes report, the exchange lost $12 billion in assets due to users continuing to withdraw money from the exchange. Despite statements from Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao that the situation has calmed down, the outflow of funds is now only increasing.
According to a Forbes study, Binance lost about 15% of its assets. According to analytical company Defillama, customers of this largest crypto exchange withdrew approximately $360 million last Friday alone.
The performance of Binance Coin (BNB) and Binance USD (BUSD), the exchange's own tokens, is the best indicator of investor mistrust. According to Forbes, BNB has lost 29% of its value in the last two months and more than 37% compared to last year. In addition, the exchange was losing about $3 billion a year as a result of the cessation of bitcoin spot trading fees.

- Bill Miller, an American investor and fund manager, has confirmed his belief in bitcoin and called it a completely different asset. According to him, the Fed intervened actively in the situation in order to save the markets during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the BTC network, without any support, worked continuously and without interruptions. Miller also noted that the global market has risen by only 70% since the crash in March 2020, while the price of bitcoin has risen by 190% over the same period. Thus, BTC is a more efficient asset.
The expert also believes that it is wrong to link BTC to the bankruptcy of crypto companies such as FTX and Celsius. He emphasized that these are all centralized organizations, which should not be confused with the decentralized bitcoin network. In addition, Miller advised the public not to confuse volatility with value, stating that the price of the main cryptocurrency will rise by the end of the year.

- Cryptocurrency analyst Dave the Wave, known for predicting the collapse of bitcoin in 2021, believes that the coin is now on track to break its “long-term resistance diagonal”. In his opinion, "a technical movement within the next month or two" may be enough to break this resistance. Dave the Wave has previously said that its Logarithmic Growth Curve (LGC) model indicates that bitcoin could rise to $160,000 by January 2025.

- Ukrainian startup Global Ledger has become a partner of the United Nations Department on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in launching a new educational course on cryptocurrencies. This will be the third such virtual resource program for UNODC. 
Participants will be able to conduct real cybercrime investigations during the course, gain experience both on the basis of historical data and on "live" cases. In the context of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the program is designed to train representatives of the Ukrainian Cyber Police and other services to identify and prevent the use of cryptocurrencies in criminal and terrorist activities and circumvent international sanctions.

- The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has issued an official warning about the new Godfather malware that collects user data in banking and cryptocurrency apps. Experts discovered the Trojan back in 2021, but the program was underdeveloped then. The improved and finished build of The Godfather was discovered on Android devices in December 2022 for the first time. 
BaFin said that the program targets more than 400 apps operating not only in Germany but throughout the world. The principle of operation of The Godfather is simple: the program simulates banking and cryptocurrency application websites, stealing user data at the time of entry. Moreover, the software can send push notifications to receive two-factor authentication codes. BaFin experts are trying to figure out how the malware gets on users' devices.

- Blockchain security company CertiK reported earlier that the level of fraud and hacking in the cryptocurrency industry will increase significantly this year as the industry becomes more popular. Another computer security company, Kaspersky Lab, believes that “a major cyber epidemic of unprecedented proportions may occur in 2023”, as the BlueNoroff cybergroup has again intensified its attacks on organizations working with cryptocurrencies, such as venture funds, banks and startups. 
Kaspersky Lab experts discovered new BlueNoroff traps for startup employees in autumn 2022: 70 fake domains masquerading as well-known venture funds and banks from Japan, the USA, Vietnam, and the UAE. In addition, hackers are now experimenting with new file types to inject malware. For example, it can be an email with an allegedly important document in the “doc” format attached. If you open this file, the device will be immediately infected with malware, and attackers can monitor all daily operations and plan to steal funds.

– Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said in a recent interview with CNBC that the prospects for cryptocurrencies are not so good, but everything is not so bad either. Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have remained stable lately despite the bad news. Leveraged traders closed out their positions in December 2022, creating what the entrepreneur called a “clean market.” In addition, market participants have significantly reduced their spending and will continue to do so in order to get through the transition period.
 Novogratz also stressed that 2023 will be a defining year for the future development of the industry. At the same time, he pointed to the problems that exist between Gemini and Genesis, which could create an unpleasant situation for the entire digital asset market.

- The founder and CEO of BTC.TOP & B.TOP crypto projects, Jiang Zhuoer, studied the historical charts of the bitcoin and ethereum rates. All three previous bear markets took the same amount of time to go from the previous high to the bottom. Thus, the expert concludes that the four-year cycle is still working.
Based on this, Zhiang Zhuoer believes that we are now in the last sideways period of the bear market bottom. Events such as bankruptcies of crypto companies will no longer have a significant impact on prices. The optimistic estimate suggests that if the 2018 scenario repeats, BTC price could stay flat for another two months before the next bullish rally begins.
The analyst emphasized that Ethereum now looks much stronger than bitcoin. Currency freedom and increased opportunities for smart contracts have attracted new users and encouraged the creation of innovative apps. Zhiang Zhuoer noted that the decline in ETH was no more than that of BTC, and the ETH/BTC ratio was kept at a high level. Bitcoin's inflation rate was 1.72%, while after switching to the PoS algorithm, the same rate for ETH was only 0.01%. According to the expert, ETH deflation will have a very positive effect on its future price, and Ethereum will begin to grow in value earlier than bitcoin and will become the leader of the next bullish market. This should happen between March and May 2023.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- It was on January 3, 2009, that a person or a group of people known as Satoshi Nakamoto launched the main bitcoin network, mining a genesis block with 50 BTC. Shortly before the network was launched, on October 31, 2008, the white paper of the first cryptocurrency was published. The first bitcoin transaction took place on January 12, 2009: Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney. A version of Bitcoin_0.1 software was published three days earlier.
Nakamoto's identity and motives for creating bitcoin are still a mystery that the crypto community and beyond are trying to unravel. One of the probable reasons for the creation of bitcoin was the global financial crisis that broke out in 2007-2008, accompanied by the collapse of the largest investment banks, a widespread decline in production, falling demand and prices for raw materials, rising unemployment and active state intervention in the economy.

- The Italian Parliament approved amendments to the 2023 budget, which involve the introduction of a 26% tax on capital gains received from the trading of digital assets. The tax will be levied if there is a profit of more than €2,000 ($2,145), and citizens will be obliged to inform tax authorities about such investments.
The UK, by contrast, has offered tax breaks for non-residents and foreign investors when buying digital assets through local investment managers or brokers. The new rule came into effect on January 1, 2023 and is part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plans to make the UK the world's crypto powerhouse.

- Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which collapsed in November, causing billions of dollars in losses to investors, pleads not guilty. He faces eight criminal charges, including electronic fraud, conspiracy to launder money, and campaign finance violations, for which he could spend decades in prison.
According to Reuters, the court has set the first date for the Bankman-Fried trial on October 2, 2023. In the meantime, the defendant has been released to his parents' home in California on $250 million bail. Parents are two of the four people who have paid bail. Lawyers said they were threatened with harm, so two more names have not yet been disclosed.

- The past 12 months have been particularly difficult for the cryptocurrency market, which has lost more than 70% of its total capitalization. However, many analysts seem to be quite optimistic about the short-term outlook for BTC.
Tim Draper, third-generation venture capitalist and co-founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, believes bitcoin will be worth $250,000.
It will take a rally of about 1,400% upside to reach this cosmic mark. Draper is also positive about the halving, which should take place in 2024, believing that this event will have a big impact on the price of the main cryptocurrency.
Another expert with a positive outlook is Carol Alexander, professor of finance at the University of Sussex. She had been prone to BTC falling to $10,000 in 2022 in her previous forecast. This did not happen, although the forecast almost came true.
However, the financier predicts now that the first cryptocurrency can reach $50,000 in 2023. The professor believes that the catalyst will be the influx of more “dominoes” that fell apart after the collapse of the FTX exchange. “2023 will be a managed bull market, not a bubble,” she writes. - We will not see a jump in the rate, as before. But we will see a month or two of stable trending prices interspersed with periods of limited range, and perhaps a couple of short-term crashes.”
Alistair Milne, IT Director of the Altana Digital Currency Fund, is also among those who gave several high-profile forecasts about the bitcoin rate. In his opinion, “We should see bitcoin at least $45,000 by the end of 2023.” That being said, Milne warns that “if central banks decide to allow a higher inflation target […] to avoid a recession, hard assets could become fashionable again.” He also tweeted that BTC should reach $150,000-300,000 by the end of 2024, “and this is probably the peak of opportunity for the bulls.”
Another expert joining the bull train is Eric Wall, Chief Investment Officer at cryptocurrency hedge fund Arcane Assets. It is also called the "altcoin killer". However, his forecast for 2023 looks much more modest: the expert believes that the bitcoin rate may exceed $30,000. Eric Wall often bases his comments on the BTC Rainbow Price Chart, an analytical tool created by BlockchainCenter. And this time he said that the $15,400 exchange rate was the bottom for bitcoin.
Unlike previous forecasts, strategists at the British international financial conglomerate Standard Chartered believe that the BTC rate may, on the contrary, fall to $5,000. In their opinion, “more and more crypto companies and exchanges are facing insufficient liquidity, leading to further bankruptcies and the collapse of investor confidence in digital assets.”

- Luke Dashjr (alias Luke-Jr), one of the main developers of the first cryptocurrency core, who has made more than 200 proposals to the bitcoin code since 2011, is now the victim of hackers. Luke-Jr claims to have lost "virtually" all of his BTC in a brazen hack that took place on New Year's Eve. The programmer said in a January 1 message that hackers gained access to his Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) key, a common security method. As a result, more than 215 BTC ($3.6 million) were stolen.
Dashjr said he had "no idea" how the attackers got access to his key. He only noticed the recent hack after receiving emails from Coinbase and Kraken about login attempts, he said. 

- Dante Disparte, Head of Strategic Development at Circle, shared his opinion on the developments in the cryptocurrency sector over the past year and the prospects for the industry in 2023. According to the specialist, digital assets and blockchain will still remain indispensable tools of the economy, despite the terrible events in 2022, which indicate not a crypto winter, but a whole “ice age” for the industry. However, despite these setbacks, many major banks and financial institutions will continue to introduce cryptocurrencies into their product lines. As for the bankruptcy of several crypto-lenders and the collapse of the FTX exchange, these events, according to Dispart, can be a boon for the industry, as they lay the foundation for more responsible and affordable investments.

- Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki revealed that he is buying more bitcoin (BTC) at current prices. Kiyosaki explained that, unlike altcoins, bitcoin is likely to be able to dodge the hammer of regulators: “Why? Because bitcoin is classified as a commodity much like gold, silver and oil. Most crypto tokens are classified as securities, and the US SEC will crush most of them.”

- As it turns out, Darren Nguyen, a 25-year-old crypto trader who traded nearly $2 billion worth of crypto in 2021, was running his crypto empire from the comfort of his parents' home in Sydney. This is evidenced by an article published on January 2 in The Australian. Until now, the family has kept quiet about the crypto business Nguyen runs, and his mother refused to answer the question of whether she knew about what the child was doing under her roof.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Billionaire Mark Cuban had an argument with Club Random podcast host Bill Maher regarding investments in bitcoin and gold. Maher noted that he is an opponent of the first cryptocurrency and believes in the value of the precious metal. In response, Cuban called those who invest in gold dumb. “I want bitcoin to drop lower so I can buy some more,” the billionaire said.
Cuban also criticized Maher's claim that gold is a hedge against inflation and other risks. According to him, buying the precious metal does not mean owning a physical ingot. “This is a digital transaction that proves ownership […]. Do you know what would happen if you had a gold bar in your hands? Someone would beat you to a pulp or kill you to take it,” Cuban added.

- The mining company BIT Mining Limited reported a hacker attack on the BTC.com pool under its control. “As a result of the cyber attack, certain cryptocurrencies were stolen, including assets of BTC.com customers worth about $700,000 and approximately $2.3 million owned by the company,” BIT Mining Limited said. According to Immunefi, the crypto industry's total losses from hacks and scams in Q3 22 amounted to $428.7 million. 

- According to South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency, North Korean hackers have stolen $1.2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets over the past five years. More than half of this amount ($626 million) was stolen over the past year. 
North Korea's hackers are considered among the best, as Kim Jong-un's regime is investing heavily in cybercrime. CNN has published a major investigation into how the North Korean regime is financing its nuclear program by creating a network of agents and hackers embedded in various crypto exchanges and crypto companies, mainly from the United States.

- Large institutional investors are still “staying away” from digital assets due to high volatility. This was stated by Jared Gross, Managing Director of JPMorgan Asset Management. In his opinion, bitcoin has not become an alternative to gold and a hedge against inflation, as many hoped, and for most large institutions, cryptocurrencies “actually do not exist” as an asset class. “[A lot of big investors] breathed a sigh of relief that they haven't entered this market and probably won't do so anytime soon,” added Jared Gross.

- Bobby Lee, co-founder and former head of the BTCC exchange, allowed the cryptocurrency bull market to return by early 2025, in an interview with CNBC. “It is difficult to determine exactly when this bear market will bottom out. I expect the bull market to return in two years,” he said.
The expert also believes that it is necessary to strengthen regulation, especially for companies providing custody services, to restore confidence in the digital asset industry. “I have always been a supporter of more regulation in the cryptocurrency market. To understand, I'm talking about regulating companies, not the asset itself, because it's inert. It is a commodity like gold and silver. No regulation can change the chemical composition of gold or silver. It’s the same with bitcoin,” Lee explained.

- Bitcoin has been recognized as a means of payment in Brazil. The law that has secured this status for it has been passed by Congress and signed by the president of the country. The Bank of Brazil is expected to be in charge of using the first cryptocurrency as a means of payment, while the Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to take responsibility for overseeing digital gold as an investment asset. 
At the same time, the Chairman of the Bank of Brazil has repeatedly stated that he does not consider cryptocurrencies as an alternative to fiat. Based on this, according to a number of experts, the Central Bank will not help create favorable conditions for the use of bitcoin in mutual settlements.

- Ethereum's fundamentals are strong, but analysts expect ETH to further depreciate. The Ethereum blockchain is at its best since its launch. 100 days have passed since the transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. The chain is now protected by almost half a million validators, and energy consumption has decreased by 99%.
In addition, Ethereum remains the best ecosystem of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. According to Nansen, almost $24 billion worth of NFTs were minted and sold in 2022. However, these positive factors have not increased ETH quotes. The price of the coin is still close to $1,200, and some analysts predict a further drop in the rate to the $1,000 zone. 

- Crypto trader Dan Gambardella, who runs a YouTube channel called Crypto Capital Venture, released a video on whether the crypto industry can reach a capitalization of $100 trillion by 2030. Gambardella quoted Raoul Pal, former Goldman Sachs chief executive and CEO of RealVision, who compared the cryptocurrency industry to the stocks, bonds and real estate industries, whose market capitalization ranges from $250-350 trillion. Based on this analysis, the top manager believes that a $100 trillion crypto market capitalization could become a reality.

- Popular analyst Benjamin Cowen believes that bitcoin’s current percentage drawdown from its all-time high is approaching the level that signaled the bottom of the 2018 and 2014 bear markets. According to Cowen's chart, bitcoin then fell by more than 80%, today its fall is 75.6% from the high set in November 2021. This figure indicates the approaching end of the bear market. But it is too early to say that the bottom has already been reached.
Cowen is also keeping a close eye on the percentage drawdown of total market capitalization from all-time highs. According to him, it is now down by 72%, which is also still less than the drawdowns observed during the previous two bear markets.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- The SEC and CFTC may need to consider banning cryptocurrencies. Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the US Senate Banking Committee, said this on NBC. “We [legislators] want them [regulators] to do what they need […] perhaps by banning them [cryptocurrencies]. Although this scenario is extremely difficult, since they [digital assets] will go offshore, and few people can predict what this measure will lead to,” the senator explained.
Sherrod Brown backed Jon Tester, who also sits on the banking committee. The legislator stated on December 12 that cryptocurrencies have not passed the “gut check”, and therefore there is no reason for them to exist.
Brown admitted that he has been “educating” senators and the public on the “dangers of cryptocurrencies” over the past 18 months, calling for immediate and aggressive action. “I've already reached out to the Treasury and Secretary [Janet Yellen] and asked for a nationwide assessment through all the various regulatory agencies [...] The SEC has been particularly aggressive,” he explained. Brown cited the collapse of FTX as justification for the position, adding that this is only part of a huge problem.

- According to the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler, digital assets are too volatile and speculative, which puts investors at great risk. “It is important that cryptocurrency issuers, as well as other intermediaries, operate in accordance with clear rules,” he said. “Although the industry usually does not pose a threat to the traditional financial sector, we must be vigilant to prevent such a situation from developing.”
Gensler noted that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) was able to effectively identify gaps in the regulation of the crypto industry. The FSOC has recommended passing bills that would empower federal financial regulators to control the spot market for crypto assets, similar to stock markets.

- Michael Burry, the hero of The Big Short, who predicted the 2007-8 mortgage crisis, called audits of the balances of cryptocurrency exchanges FTX, Binance and others pointless. This is how the investor commented on the news about the termination of services for crypto companies by the French auditor Mazars.
Mazars's audit of Binance's bitcoin balances was actively criticized by experts who said that it was not a full audit and that its results did not convince users of the safety of users' assets. Following the criticism, Binance faced a significant outflow of funds. The exchange also had problems withdrawing the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin on some networks. Against this background, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was forced to refute rumors about a lack of liquidity on the platform.

- Edward Snowden, a former NSA and US CIA officer who now lives in Russia, proposed his candidacy for the post in response to Twitter owner Elon Musk's post about the search for the social network's CEO. “I accept payment in bitcoin,” Snowden wrote.
Elon Musk posted that he needed a CEO who could "keep Twitter alive." Earlier, the billionaire conducted a survey in his profile about the need for him to resign from the post of head of the social network. 17.5 million users participated in it, the majority of them (57.5%) voted for Musk's resignation, and he promised to follow the results of the poll.

- Elon Musk had admitted back in August that a recession could trigger a number of bankruptcies, and the period itself could continue until the end of 2023. Although the billionaire admitted that “making macroeconomic forecasts ¬is a lost cause,” he still assumed that the upcoming crisis will be “relatively mild”. In particular, he referred to the "relatively low debt levels for most companies." This allows us to hope that the recession will remain in the range of "mild to moderate, lasting about eighteen months," Musk said at the time.
Mike Novogratz, the head of the venture capital company Galaxy Digital, adheres to similar deadlines. In his opinion, bitcoin will continue to remain in the zone of uncertainty as long as the US Federal Reserve is trying to curb inflationary risks. He also suggested that it is high time for the crypto market to pause due to excessive activity.
Novogratz called the takeover of the American crypto exchange Coinbase “by some big traditional financier” one of the worst recession scenarios. Coinbase has long been cutting operating expenses in anticipation of worsening business in 2023.

- According to a number of analysts, there are currently no significant prerequisites for the growth of the bitcoin rate in the global cryptocurrency market. On the contrary, the anxiety of traders against the background of the bankruptcy of the FTX exchange may lead to a collapse in its value. According to RBC, “investors are now actively withdrawing funds from the Binance exchange, and in record volumes. The US intends to strictly regulate the crypto market and citizens' transactions.  So we should expect that bitcoin will not grow, but will come to its lows soon. It is possible that its value will be at the level of $10,000 in the first half of 2023, or even in Q1.”
The tightening of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy may also put pressure on the bitcoin rate. Its plans to raise the interest rate above 5.00% next year may limit the potential for BTC to rise in value. And as analysts at the British investment company AJ Bell predict, the main cryptocurrency rate will be very volatile in 2023.

- Given the deteriorating macroeconomic conditions, the crypto market is likely to face another collapse in quotes in the near future. This conclusion was reached by analysts at the Nansen research portal, considering the correlation between the S&P500 index and cryptocurrencies. Experts expect that the US recession will affect not only stocks, but also digital assets. At the same time, it is possible that this fall will be the last in the current cycle (until 2024). However, Nansen experts did not specify how soon it will happen and how long the market will be at the bottom.

- Bloomberg senior strategist Mike McGlone shares the opposite point of view. According to him, despite the fact that “the global benchmark digital asset was defeated in 2022”, it is ready to once again lean towards faster growth. The expert believes that the global economy may continue to fall in 2023, but BTC is likely to grow and become more actively used as digital security. The correlation of the digital asset with the Nasdaq index can be a supporting factor in this matter.
Mike McGlone had earlier predicted that the "macroeconomic global winter" could last up to three years. At the same time, he expects that the crypto industry will become stronger than ever in the next few years, and the bitcoin exchange rate will reach $100,000, and Ethereum at $6,000 by 2025.

- To circumvent sanctions imposed due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Parliament is studying the possibility of issuing a gold-backed cryptocurrency that is stored in the country's Far East. This is not the first initiative on the topic of gold backing of digital assets. Economists at Vnesheconombank of the Russian Federation proposed issuing a gold-backed stablecoin called the “golden ruble” last June. In their opinion, it will be impossible to block transactions with the crypto-gold ruble, since the exchange rate will be tied to the gold rate on the world market. 

- The research company Solidus Labs has published a report on fraudulent schemes in the crypto industry. According to the firm, scammers released over 100,000 new "cryptocurrencies" (117,629 to be exact) from January 1 to December 1, 2022. This figure is 41% higher than the figure recorded in 2021. The BNB Smart Chain blockchain, developed by the Binance exchange, took the first place in terms of the number of coins issued by fraudsters. 12% of the tokens created on this network were issued by scammers. In second place is the Ethereum cryptocurrency blockchain, in which 8% of new coins were associated with scam projects.
The most profitable scam was the so-called honeypot, which is a trap for greedy people. To pull off this scam, attackers develop a smart contract with a vulnerability that supposedly allows you to withdraw cryptocurrency after making a deposit. In practice, those who fall for the bait of the scammers cannot take the coins from the "pot" and lose their assets. The authors of one of these virtual traps, based on Squid Game (SQUID) tokens, earned $3.3 million in just a few days.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Following the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting, the US Federal Reserve will decide on the interest rate on December 14. Although its current level is still far from the expected peak of 5-5.25%, the US Central Bank may raise the rate not by 0.75%, but by 0.5% this time. Such a decision will signal the easing of monetary policy and that additional volumes of dollar liquidity may appear on the market. According to experts, this will have a positive impact on the prices of risky assets, including cryptocurrencies. If bitcoin settles above the $18,000 area in the near future, some experts estimate that it is likely to reach an extreme of $20,000 by the end of December.
In such a situation, the bitcoin price will again be on a growth parabola, according to an analyst known as Plan B. According to their latest forecast, BTC could reach $100,000 in 2023. Jim Wyckoff, Senior Analyst at Kitco News, also believes BTC is close to developing a sustained bullish rally in the current environment as strong buyers have stepped in.

- Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the 30-year-old founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, has been arrested in the Bahamas after U.S. prosecutors filed eight felony charges against him. According to law enforcement officers, SBF colluded with partners to deceive, misappropriate funds from clients of the trading platform and use them to pay the expenses and debts of their companies. As a result of the leak of deposits, an $8 billion hole was created on the exchange's accounts. The charges also include money laundering and violations of US political campaign finance laws. Earlier, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also accused SBF in defrauding FTX investors.  According to the representative of the prosecutor's office, Bankman-Fried faces up to 115 years in prison in the aggregate of all criminal cases.

- ARK Invest CEO Catherine Wood said that Sam Bankman-Fried has always disliked bitcoin because it is transparent and decentralized, and he could not control it, including during the crisis caused by opaque centralized players.
Despite the difficult situation caused by the bankruptcy of FTX, the head of ARK Invest remains optimistic. In her opinion, DeFi will be further developed, as investors have learned how important fully transparent decentralized networks are thanks to the crisis. “When centralized crypto companies went bankrupt, investors who invested in transparent distributed networks saw what was happening. They were able to withdraw their assets on time. Even those who used high margin leverage were able to survive,” Catherine Wood said.
Recall that, in addition to the FTX bankruptcy in November, the crypto industry has experienced a number of major shocks this year. First of all, this is the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May. Compute North, Voyager Digital, Celsius Network, Three Arrows Capital, and Blockfi also filed for bankruptcy. According to some estimates, approximately several million customers lost billions of dollars as a result of all these events.

- Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of the BitMEX crypto exchange, said that the first cryptocurrency reached the lowest level of the current cycle, as almost all “irresponsible organizations” ran out of coins to sell. Hayes explained that when facing financial difficulties, centralized credit companies often borrow first and then sell off their BTC holdings, followed by a collapse. “When you look at the balance of any of these ‘heroes’, you won’t see bitcoin there. They sold it before they went bankrupt."
This is how Hayes explains the reasons for the fall of the first cryptocurrency even before the bankruptcy of centralized credit companies. At the same time, the expert believes that the period of large-scale liquidations is over. In his opinion, the digital asset market expects a partial recovery in 2023 amid the next launch of the “printing press” by the US Federal Reserve.

- According to Bloomberg's leading strategist Mike McGlone, bitcoin is likely to outshine gold. The popular analyst added that the flagship cryptocurrency is currently only four times more volatile than the precious metal, which is negligible compared to what it was in 2018.
McGlone called next year the bitcoin market and a time of shine after a year and a half of direct downtrends. This will happen due to the fact that the Central Banks, primarily the Fed, will move from an aggressive tightening of monetary policy to its easing. If this does not happen, Bloomberg strategist says, the world could plunge even deeper into a recession with negative consequences for all risky assets.
Max Keiser, a former trader and now TV host and filmmaker, also believes that BTC will certainly catch up in 2023 and may stage an epic rally before the 2024 halving. In his opinion, the growth of the flagship cryptocurrency will continue over the next decades.

- The FTX crash gave additional arguments to those US officials who are skeptical about cryptocurrencies. For example, Senator Jon Tester, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has recently said that digital assets failed the “tightness” test. “I haven't found anyone who could explain to me what their value is,” the senator says. “The problem is that if we regulate them, people will start to think that crypto assets are really legal.”
The decision of the US authorities to regulate cryptocurrencies will determine the further behavior of institutional players and large owners of bitcoins, which are often the same persons. So far, 80% of the losses that occur in the market of the main cryptocurrency are caused by the sale of BTC by “whales”, most wallets with a balance of more than 10 thousand BTC continue to sell more than buy digital gold since mid-July. 

- The proportion of US adults who have ever invested in cryptocurrencies increased from 3% in 2020 up to 13% in June 2022. This is evidenced by a study conducted by JPMorgan analysts. The specialists of the financial conglomerate analyzed a sample of 5 million accounts and found that the majority of retail users invested in digital assets for the first time close to the price peak. The average purchase price for their first cryptocurrency is $42,400-$45,500. At the same time, most low-income investors bought at a higher price.
Retail investors' inflows of money into crypto accounts have far exceeded outflows from them over the past few years. The cash flow has become more balanced against the background of the market decline in the first half of 2022. At the same time, the researchers found that the average investment is relatively small: about $620, which is approximately equal to a weekly salary. Only 15% of investors have invested more than their monthly earnings in digital assets. JPMorgan analysts also noted that Asians with high incomes are most likely to invest in cryptocurrencies.

- Twitter's new CEO Elon Musk managed to silence cryptocurrency spam bots. The businessman had promised to solve the problem with a huge number of advertising messages before buying the social network and has already started working in this direction. The volume of mailings has decreased significantly, but Elon is not going to stop there.
“My guess is that there are a small number of people running a huge army of bots and trolls. Today [December 11] we will block IP addresses of known violators. Although this should have been done much earlier,” Musk said. Twitter will now immediately blacklist the IP addresses of spammers, so they won't be able to use the social network for a long time using the VPN service or the Tor browser. In addition, Elon Musk promised to punish all scammers, but has not yet said exactly how.
Dogecoin creator Billy Markus, known under the pseudonym Shibetoshi Nakamoto, has confirmed the effectiveness of anti-spam measures. After Musk announced the blocking of IP addresses, only one bot responded to Marcus' post instead of the usual 50. Thus, the social network has neutralized almost all spammers.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- According to a Bloomberg poll, about 94% of respondents believe that the FTX bankruptcy will be followed by further turmoil as years of easy lending give way to a tougher business and market environment.

- The FTX collapse will continue to affect cryptocurrency market sentiment, leading to a drop in bitcoin's price to $5,000 in 2023. This is the conclusion reached by Standard Chartered. Eric Robertsen, chief strategist at this multinational bank, allowed interest to shift from the digital version of gold to its physical counterpart. The conclusion about the fall of bitcoin follows from his forecast for the growth of the precious metal by 30%, to $2,250 per troy ounce. Robertsen stressed that the proposed version of the development of events is not a forecast, but it only suggests a possible deviation from the current market consensus.
The described scenario is possible due to the suspension by the world's leading central banks of raising interest rates in 2023 after they have risen in recent months. An additional factor will be the expected continuation of a series of bankruptcies among major participants in the crypto industry with a loss of confidence in digital assets. “Gold will benefit from problems in the crypto industry in the future,” Nicholas Frappell, Global General Manager at ABC Refinery, agreed with Eric Robertsen.

- Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz maintained his forecast for the price of the first cryptocurrency to rise to $500,000 in a comment to Bloomberg Television. However, due to significant changes in the macroeconomic situation, it will now take bitcoin more than five years to achieve this goal. “The reason bitcoin dropped from $69,000 to $20,000 is [Fed Chairman] Jerome Powell’s decision to start fighting inflation with a series of rate hikes from 0% to 4%,” he explained. “For this reason, all assets that are considered inflation hedges have fallen in value.”
The founder of Galaxy Digital said in early October that bitcoin would resume growth after the Fed backed away from aggressively raising rates to fight inflation.

- According to a report by CertiK, a blockchain security company, fraudulent bots are rapidly gaining popularity on YouTube: the number of dubious videos increased sixfold in 2022. CertiK describes a wave of fraud through bots that promise instant profits and up to 10 times a day in its report dated December 1. The scam itself usually involves victims being asked to download virus software that is designed to steal their assets the moment they attempt to initiate a pre-transaction.
North Korean hackers of the Lazarus group, which spread the AppleJeus virus under the guise of a bot for cryptocurrency trading BloxHolder are among the attackers, according to IT analysts from Volexity. The extent of the cryptocurrency they stole is still unclear. However, it is already known that the AppleJeus virus is actively updated and encrypted using a special algorithm, which complicates its tracking by antivirus programs.

- Investors lost $10.16 billion in just one week in November as a result of the collapse of the second-largest crypto exchange in terms of capitalization, FTX. According to the figurative expression of analysts, this was not a “crypto winter”, but a “crypto massacre”. The FTX crisis was like a domino that led to the collapse of many other companies.
To complicate matters, between 73% and 81% of investors lost money due to investing in cryptocurrencies between 2015 and 2022. This is evidenced by data from a study conducted by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). According to many experts, regulators will no longer be able to ignore the complaints of those who have lost their savings in such a situation and will have to move to proactive action.

- Peter Schiff, a well-known financier and investor, is widely known as a supporter of gold and an opponent of cryptocurrencies. He expressed confidence in his latest interview that the global inflation rate will rise significantly in 2023, and what is happening now is just the beginning. In his opinion, the cryptocurrency market should fall even more, unable to withstand such strong pressure.
Schiff called the rising inflation rate a certain tax on the population. He noted that every US dollar that the government spends must be paid by citizens in one way or another. The authorities are using a dishonest path. They simply print new money and then put it into circulation. When this happens, the price of everything people buy is constantly increasing. So instead of taking money through taxes, they're stealing purchasing power.

- Texas Senator Ted Cruz said that cryptocurrency mining is essential to the US energy system. First of all, miners can use energy which is excess in the extraction of oil and gas. When it comes to extreme weather conditions in the state, whether it's severe frost or drought, miners can also benefit the Texas power grid. The senator explained that the energy generated by mining can be used to heat households and businesses. 
Cruz stressed that Texas creates favorable opportunities for the development of the cryptocurrency industry thanks to an abundance of cheap electricity. In addition, the state government supports free enterprise, and this attracts companies working with blockchain and digital assets. According to the politician, he likes bitcoin, and this is the only crypto asset in which he invests and buys it on a weekly basis.

- Mike McGlone, senior strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, believes that cryptocurrencies are now going through the last stage before reaching the bottom. However, he warned that it will be very difficult to survive this phase: “Normally, markets do not just form a V-bottom. They make it as hard as possible with a lot of volatility, taking money from all investors.”
Bloomberg analyst noted that there is good news as well. Thus, ethereum has grown 12 times compared to 2019 and is still growing. McGlone claims that ETH has strong support close to the current price level. According to his forecast, this coin will outperform all cryptocurrencies, thanks to growing demand and shrinking supply.

- According to Michael Van De Poppe, a well-known trader and analyst, the market situation has stabilized slightly, and BTC bulls need now to break through an important resistance level in the $17,400-17,600 range. In this case, the price will continue moving towards $19,000 quite quickly. He noted that one of the first goals was to reach the $18,285 horizon. As for the price of ethereum, Van de Poppe believes that the key support level for this cryptocurrency is the price of $1,200.

- JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has once again criticized cryptocurrency and digital assets. He stressed that some people can be fooled into buying anything. The head of the bank has previously called cryptocurrencies “decentralized Ponzi schemes” and urged to stay away from bitcoin. However, he wrote in his annual letter to shareholders that “decentralized finance and blockchain are real new technologies” and went on to promote the bank’s efforts to implement them. In addition, JPMorgan registered a trademark for its own crypto wallet at the end of November. the bank will provide services related to digital assets under the new brand, including the transfer and exchange of cryptocurrencies, as well as the processing of cross-border payments.

- According to PricePredictions machine learning algorithms, which include a number of technical indicators (MA, RSI, MACD, BB, etc.), the price of bitcoin may rise in the near future. According to this forecast, the main cryptocurrency will reach $18,797 on December 31, 2022. It should be noted that this forecast is lower than the expectations of members of the CoinMarketCap crypto community, who believe that BTC will be trading at an average price of $19,788 by the end of the year.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- A bull market will soon begin for bitcoin and other digital assets, but this will happen after a noticeable fall and reaching a real bottom. This opinion was expressed by cryptocurrency analyst Benjamin Cowen.
The expert expects the 2018 crypto winter scenario to repeat. At that time, digital gold demonstrated several stages of gradual recovery. But growth became stable after quotes fell to the minimum of the bearish cycle. “When the market is bearish, we see the following stages constantly: a fall, a consolidation, a small increase, and a failure again. We are following a simple signal: the intersection of the 200-day moving average and the bitcoin price chart,” the analyst said. According to him, such an intersection will take place on December 25-27. This is when we can expect the price to reach a real bottom and move to sustainable growth.
Cowen pointed to the duration of bearish markets, which has historically been about a year, as an additional argument. The 2014 cycle lasted 14 months, and the 2018 cycle lasted 12 months.
According to the expert's forecast, the bottom has not yet been reached so far. In addition to not crossing the BTC price with the 200-day SMA, Cowen also referred to the Puell Multiple indicator. The metric value at the minimum was about 0.3 in previous cycles. The indicator has so far dropped only to 0.375 this year.

- Mark Mobius, co-founder of Mobius Capital Partners LLP investment company, shared his prediction that bitcoin will continue to fall, and its immediate goal is $10,000. He added that he would not invest his own money or his clients' money in digital assets as "it's too risky." “But cryptocurrency is here to stay because there are some investors who still believe in it,” the famous investor “reassured” crypto enthusiasts.
Mark Mobius is not alone in his predictions. Deribit options data shows a large number of outstanding bitcoin put contracts, so called open interest, with an exercise price of $10,000 at the end of December. 

- Analysts at IntoTheBlock note that bitcoin is currently experiencing a sharp backwardance: a situation where BTC futures are priced much lower compared to the current price of the asset in the regular (spot) market. This suggests that the market is under strong pressure from sellers. Traders are actively opening short positions, hoping that the price of bitcoin will continue to go down.
At the same time, IntoTheBlock points out that the times when futures contracts are backward tend to coincide with market lows, as was the case in March 2020 and May 2021. And it can also be a signal that the cryptocurrency has found a bottom now. A similar trend can be seen with extremely negative funding rates.

- Unlike Mark Mobius, Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors and well-known analyst, remains a bitcoin supporter and believes that this asset can still serve as an investment tool.
Lee agrees that the passing year has been a terrible year for the entire crypto industry. The macroeconomic events of early 2022, the collapse of Terra, which not only buried two TOP-10 cryptocurrencies, but also caused a domino effect that destroyed many industry participants. A new shock came in November when one of the market giants, the FTX crypto exchange, and related companies, collapsed. There are now rumors questioning the fortunes of Digital Currency Group and its subsidiaries, two of which are Genesis and Grayscale. However, despite all the tragedy of the current situation, Tom Lee believes that the above events are a "cleansing" moment for the industry, and next year should be better than this one. 

- Michael Novogratz, CEO of the crypto investment company Galaxy Digital, said that digital assets will not leave the market, even though the industry is experiencing a crisis of confidence. “There are 150 million people who have chosen to store part of their wealth in bitcoin. […] Therefore, bitcoin, ethereum will not disappear. Other cryptocurrencies will not either,” he said.
Novogratz expects the recovery of the crypto industry and its slow growth. “You will see how people like ARK Invest CEO Cathy Wood will soon enter the crypto market and invest. I don't think this will be a quick recovery. It will most likely take a long time. It won't be easy to restore trust. Centralized companies will have to act differently,” the businessman said.
Cathy Wood herself, according to Yahoo, answered “yes” when asked whether she still sticks to her forecast of the BTC price of $1 million by 2030.

- Analysts at investment bank JPMorgan believe that the cryptocurrency industry will change significantly after the collapse of FTX. Primarily due to stricter regulations. They cite the bill on the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the European Union (MiCA) as an example.
JPMorgan expects regulators to pay close attention to the issues of storing crypto assets and protecting consumers. These areas should lead to the same level of security as in the traditional financial system. Another way to protect consumers could be the separation of roles for cryptocurrency companies. When, for example, a cryptocurrency broker cannot be a credit service or provide custodial services at the same time. It is also important to ensure the transparency of the crypto business and oblige companies to provide periodic reporting on their status.
JPMorgan researchers do not expect a significant increase in the role of decentralized exchanges due to numerous restrictions for such sites. “We believe,” they write, “that centralized exchanges will continue to play a huge role in the cryptocurrency ecosystem for the foreseeable future. Especially for large institutional investors, even despite the FTX crash.”

- Renowned crypto trader Ton Vays has described how bulls can end a year-long bearish market. According to him, they should push the price of the main cryptocurrency to the November high, and this will start an upward rally. “I want to see a move to $23,000. If there's a rebound, we'll need to hold on to $19,000 and then come back for a further $23,000. This is 95% to 98% likely to show that a bull market has begun.” 
The crypto trader who predicted the collapse of bitcoin in 2018 accurately does not rule out that bitcoin will soon face a new sale. “Another scenario is we will fall to $11,000. I believe the bull market will start right after that because I just don't believe bitcoin could fall even lower.” In any case, under any of these scenarios, Vays expects bitcoin to reach $23,000 later this year or early 2023.

- Small retail investors (up to 10 BTC) are becoming increasingly optimistic about bitcoin and have accumulated a record number of coins despite the FTX crash and the ongoing crisis, according to a report by the Glassnode analytics platform.
It is reported that “shrimp” investors (less than 1 BTC) added 96,200 coins worth $1.6 billion to their portfolios after the FTX crash in early November, which is a “record high balance increase”. And now they own 1.21 million BTC in total, which is equivalent to 6.3% of the current turnover of 19.2 million coins. Meanwhile, “crabs” (up to 10 BTC) have bought about 191,600 coins worth about $3.1 billion over the past 30 days, which is also a “convincing all-time high.”
While crabs and shrimps were accumulating a record number of bitcoins, large investors were selling them. According to Glassnode, bitcoin whales have released about 6,500 BTC ($107 million) to exchanges over the past month. However, this is a very small fraction of their total holdings of 6.3 million BTC ($104 billion), which suggests that the whales remain somewhat optimistic as well. 

- Texas Governor Greg Abbott sees bitcoin's value to the world, adding that his state “wants to be at the center of it all.” Abbott urged bitcoin companies to set up operations in Texas, promising that anyone who does so will be rewarded with ease of doing business and a lack of regulatory controversy.
According to a recent SmartAsset study on cryptocurrency-friendly states in the US, Texas ranked fourth along with New Jersey, behind Nevada, followed by Florida and California.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- A deepfake of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was spread on Twitter, where he offered to take part in a cryptocurrency draw as compensation for the collapse of his exchange. The deepfake video directed people to a website hosting the “largest $100 million cryptocurrency giveaway.” To participate in the “draw”, the scammers offered users to send any number of coins to a specific address.
The fake account was quickly banned. Apparently, the scammers used an $8 Twitter Blue subscription to pass off a fake Sam Bankman-Freed profile as a real one. For reference: Deepfake is a technology for creating and replacing elements on existing videos using artificial intelligence and neural networks.

- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has recently shared a mysterious tweet that puzzled the cryptocurrency community. Without going into details, he wrote that "the rumor is that something important is about to happen." Dumbfounded by the strange text, readers are now trying to figure out if Buterin is trolling or is really trying to say something to the community.
This veiled warning comes after a dark tweet by renowned venture capitalist Paul Graham. He stated there that the crypto economy was about to experience “systemic risk” and referred to information he heard from a trustworthy person. At the same time, he added that he "does not know anything specific." So, it's possible that Buterin was simply making fun of Graham's vague doom warning.

- In addition, rumors have spread that Vitalik Buterin is getting rid of his Ethereum holdings. The wallet he allegedly owns has sold 3,000 ETH worth $3.75 million through Uniswap decentralized exchange. The question of whether this wallet really belongs to the Ethereum co-founder is debatable, but transactions were made with his other known addresses as well. These steps were taken in the middle of the night on Saturday, November 12, less than 24 hours after news of FTX's possible bankruptcy broke.

- Billionaire investor and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Bill Ackman is optimistic about the prospects for cryptocurrencies, despite recent industry events, including the FTX crash. “Cryptocurrencies are here to stay, and with proper oversight, they can benefit society and develop the global economy. All bona fide ecosystem participants should be highly motivated to expose and eliminate fraudulent projects, as they increase the risk of regulatory intervention,” Ackman said.
According to him, he was initially skeptical because he saw that the phone, the Internet and cryptocurrencies have “one thing in common”: “Each of these technologies helps the other in terms of improving fraud opportunities.” The billionaire also assumed that tokens have no intrinsic value and are simply a “modern version of tulip mania” but has now changed his point of view. The billionaire admitted that he has invested in several crypto projects. However, the share of such investments does not exceed 2% of his total portfolio.

- According to Happycoin.news, Jordan Belfort, a former stockbroker convicted of fraud and commonly known as The Wolf of Wall Street, believes that the FTX trading platform's bankruptcy was intentional, and Sam Bankman-Fried is a sociopath who implemented FTX pump and dump schemes. Belfort called FTX's business model a "fraternity house," which is more like a hostel than an actual business. In addition, in his opinion, all Bankman-Fried decisions can be equated to madness, and regulators need to focus on clients who lost money as a result of the exchange crash.

- A number of US senators have sent a letter to the management of the holding company Fidelity Investments, calling for a reconsideration of the option to include bitcoin in retirement savings accounts. It was supposed to be available to employees of 23,000 companies that use Fidelity to manage their $2.7 trillion retirement plans.
“The recent FTX crash has made it clear that the digital asset industry is in serious trouble. It's full of charismatic geeks, opportunistic scammers and self-proclaimed investment advisors who promote products without a proper level of transparency,” the legislators explained their move.

- Robert Kiyosaki, author of the world-famous book Rich Dad Poor Dad, still believes in the bright future of the two flagship digital assets bitcoin and Ethereum. According to him, bitcoin is not the same as Sam Bankman-Freed. The situation around FTX must be considered as a special case, and conclusions about the entire industry cannot be drawn only on its basis.

- Analytics firm Glassnode said in their November 21 report that recent market weakness has “shattered the confidence of bitcoin holders” and the looming crypto winter is following in the footsteps of its 2018-19 predecessor. According to Glassnode, most of the whales (wallets with more than 1,000 BTC) are now lying on the bottom, waiting for better times.
At the height of the previous bear market, bitcoin fell by 84% from its maximum. It took just under a year for the asset to fall from $20,000 to $3,200 in November 2018. It took about the same time this time to drop 77.3% and crash from $69,000 on November 21 to a new cycle low of $15,482. At the same time, some analysts believe that BTC should not be expected to recover soon, because several months had passed after the collapse of 2018 before the first noticeable upward impulse appeared.
In addition, last week saw the fourth-largest spike in realized losses with a daily volume of $1.45 billion. This dumping of crypto assets by long-term players “is often a sign of fear and capitulation among this more experienced cohort,” the report notes.

- The November fall in the cryptocurrency market resulted in a sharp increase in the number of unprofitable bitcoin addresses. According to the IntoTheBlock platform, the proportion of wallets that bought BTC at prices higher than today is now just over 51%. The total number of BTC holders is now 47.85 million, of which 24.56 million addresses are suffering losses. About 45% of wallets are still in the black, and the remaining addresses are in the break-even zone.
The last time a similar situation was observed was after the March market crash, IntoTheBlock analysts say. At the same time, one of them added that the share of unprofitable addresses usually exceeds 50% at the moment when the market is at the bottom. Thus, he hinted that a more significant fall in cryptocurrency should not be expected. However, statistics show the opposite: the share of addresses that suffered losses reached 55% in January 2019, and this figure exceeded 62% during the dominance of the bearish trend in 2015.

- Dave the Wave, a well-known crypto analyst with over 130,000 Twitter followers, has published an updated Bitcoin Logarithmic Growth Curve (LGC) model. According to his charts, bitcoin is now right at the lower end of the long-term LGC, which has historically acted as support.
BTC's history has already seen price actions below this curve: for example, in the 2015 bear market or during the crash at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. However, such a drop did not last long in past cycles, and the cryptocurrency regained its long-term support quickly. This usually signaled the end of the bear market and the start of a new bull market.
The analyst noted in a comment to his tweet that special attention should be paid to the closing of the month. According to him, there is technically nothing catastrophic in the price action yet, but the lower border of the model is hardly holding. If bitcoin closes the month below $16,000, LGC support is highly likely to collapse, and the fall will continue. And vice versa: if it manages to stay on the lower logarithmic curve and bounce up, this may be a signal for the beginning of a new bull market.

- American economist Benjamin Cowen is one of the best-known proponents of bitcoin’s cyclical nature and the cycle lengthening hypothesis. He has recently published a chart comparing the current bear market with the previous three. We see here the return on investment (ROI) of BTC of those who bought it at its absolute peak. The chart shows that bitcoin is at a very interesting point today.
On the one hand, 376 days have passed since ATH (the all-time high). In the previous two bearish markets, this period was 363 days in 2018 and 410 days in 2015. On the other hand, the current ROI is 0.247. In previous bearish markets, it always fell below 0.2. If this happens now, bitcoin will face another fall.

- Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX, has increased the negative outlook for bitcoin to $10,000. The cryptocurrency has fallen below $16,000, but Hayes believes that the story will continue to develop. The market is again on alert, as reports are received about the possible bankruptcy of Genesis, a branch of the Digital Currency Group (DCG) fund. The Genesis Credit Branch stopped the withdrawal of funds by customers on November 16. This happened after the company failed to raise $1 billion in funding.
Binance was expected to join the deal. But the trading platform refused to participate in financing, fearing a conflict of interest. However, Genesis is not officially preparing for bankruptcy, and the funding target has been lowered to $500 million.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Cryptocurrency funds may lose up to $5 billion due to the bankruptcy of FTX. This is evidenced by a study by the analytical agency Crypto Fund Research. According to the experts, the crisis has affected 25-40% of industry investment structures that invested in FTX or its utility token FTT. Joshua Gnaizda, CEO of Crypto Fund Research, clarified that we are talking about 7-12% of assets under fund management.
Paradigm and Sequoia Capital reported that their potential losses due to the FTX crisis could be $278 million and $213 million, respectively. About $175 million has been blocked at the Genesis Trading brokerage company. As of November 8, Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital investment firm had $76.8 million in FTX-related positions. Multicoin Capital invested $25 million in the US division of FTX, and also held $2 million in USDC on the exchange itself. Investments in FTX US through the Venture Fund II, created in July, amounted to $430 million. Crypto Fund Research experts have estimated the value of Pantera Capital's FTX-related assets at approximately $100 million.
Industry participants admitted on condition of anonymity that the losses of asset managers could be even greater. “The number of funds absolutely destroyed by this bankruptcy is just beginning to be revealed,” one of the sources said. Researchers expect a record number of investor requests for refunds from crypto funds in November, up to $2 billion. The previous high of $1.3 billion was recorded in June after the Terra crash.

- The FTX incident has shown that the cryptocurrency industry needs “very careful regulation.” This opinion was expressed by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, writes Bloomberg. The The Treasury Secretary added that the consequences of the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's empire could be even worse if the cryptocurrency market was more closely intertwined with the traditional financial system. “At least it's not as deeply integrated with our banking sector, and it doesn't pose more serious threats to financial stability at the moment,” Yellen said.

- While many investors around the world are panicking, experts at JPMorgan investment bank consider current events to be a positive catalyst. They said that the FTX crisis would benefit the industry and help it move several steps forward. The sudden collapse of one of the largest crypto companies will encourage regulators to speed up the process of forming regulations that allow effective control of the sector. And the introduction of a comprehensive regulatory framework will facilitate the institutional acceptance of cryptocurrencies.
JPMorgan analysts had warned earlier that the fall of major cryptocurrencies is not over, and the crisis related to the bankruptcy of FTX could lead to “cascading liquidations”. The market decline will continue for some time, reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis. However, the JPMorgan team believes that the blow to total capitalization is likely to be less this time, as the TerraUSD episode has already caused a pullback in risk taking and a more wary attitude towards investing in dubious projects.

- MicroStrategy is not abandoning its strategy of buying and accumulating bitcoin, despite the continued market decline. This was stated by the executive chairman of the company Michael Saylor. He acknowledged that the situation looks like a "roller coaster" for digital gold. But at the same time, he recalled that bitcoin sank to levels that are still 33% higher than the levels when MicroStrategy first bought BTC in 2020. The company's shares have risen 38% over the period, outperforming tech giants like Apple or Amazon.
After acquiring 301 BTC worth $6 million in September 2022, MicroStrategy's reserves reached 130,000 BTC. The company has invested about $3.98 billion in cryptocurrency. The current value of the assets is approximately $2.25 billion.

- The People's Court of Shangrao (China) jailed a hacker for 10.5 years who, in the spring of 2018, used a Trojan to gain access to the imToken wallet on the victim's phone. During March-April, he made over 520 withdrawals for a total of 383.6 ETH. Subsequently, the attacker exchanged these coins for 109,458 USDT. After the hacker was arrested, the police returned all the stolen assets to the victim. In addition to imprisonment, the court fined him 200,000 yuan (about $28,000).

- A popular analyst named Dave the Wave told his 130,200 Twitter followers that cryptocurrency markets faced a huge loss of public trust after FTX filed for bankruptcy. However, Dave the Wave also reminded that bitcoin had previously remained in a long-term uptrend even when many announced its actual death. “Do not underestimate the speculative beast underlying the BTC market, as reflected in the LGC (logarithmic growth curve), which has demonstrated the ability to absorb the most terrible news and events,” the expert believes.

- Edward Snowden, a former CIA and US National Security Agency employee who once fled to Russia, shared his views on the crypto market. Snowden believes that after the collapse of FTX, the industry should switch to secure DEXs. Decentralized exchanges are an alternative to centralized exchanges and are managed solely by smart contracts without the participation of a third party. Thanks to full decentralization, DEXs in their original state should never face problems similar to FTX, as their reserves never fall below users' deposits.

- About three-quarters of bitcoin investors lost money due to the continued decline in the crypto market. This was stated in the Bank for International Settlements. BIS analysts analyzed data on cryptocurrency investors in 95 countries from 2015 to 2022. During the study period, the price of bitcoin rose from $250 in August 2015 to a peak of almost $69,000 in November 2021. The number of people using apps to buy cryptocurrency has grown from 119,000 to 32.5 million over the same period. In addition, the experts found that as the price of bitcoin rose, smaller users bought it, while the largest holders, on the contrary, sold it, receiving income from smaller users.
The study also found that the majority of new cryptocurrency investors (around 40%) are males under the age of 35, commonly referred to as the most “risk seeking” segment of the population.

- Bitcoin has stopped the fall caused by the collapse of FTX, and its supporters believe with a vengeance in its bullish future. Thus, experts from the cryptanalytical firm TradingShot conducted an “interesting fractal analysis at different time intervals”, which showed that if bitcoin stays above $16,628, its powerful rally is not ruled out in 2023. The results of the analysis suggest an increase in bullish potential, perhaps even up to $95,000 by 2024.

- Tesla CEO and new Twitter owner Elon Musk is confident that BTC will survive the bear market, although it will take a long time before its full potential is realized. Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, also expressed optimism, who said that he is not concerned about the current price movement of the main cryptocurrency.
Elon GOAT Token (EGT) issuing company has created a monument to Tesla CEO Elon Musk “in honor of his many achievements and commitment to cryptocurrency.” The nine-meter aluminum monument, which depicts Elon Musk as a goat on a rocket, cost the company $600,000.  The company drew attention to the fact that the image of the goat is not accidental. The name of the animal in English is goat, and in the case of the sculpture, the authors encrypted the phrase “Greatest Of All Time” in this way. “We thought it was a fun and creative way to get the attention of Elon and the world,” the company said. We will deliver it to Elon Musk on November 26. The donation will take place at Tesla's headquarters in Austin."

- Former stockbroker Jordan Belfort, who served time for securities fraud and is known as the “Wolf of Wall Street,” shared tips for managing finances during times of high volatility.
Tip No.1: Invest in bitcoin for 3-4 years. “If you take a three-, four- or five-year horizon, I would be shocked if you didn’t make money,” the expert says.
Tip No.2: Don't look at anything other than bitcoin and Ethereum. Belfort believes that despite the existence of thousands of cryptocurrencies, the attention of investors should be focused only on these two assets, as they have a solid foundation. In the case of bitcoin, limited supply and a rising adoption curve are key catalysts for an upward rally. As for Ethereum, it has become the first cryptocurrency to have really wide use cases in terms of decentralized finance (DeFi).
Tip No.3: Don't panic. “The whole crypto world is paralyzed by fear. [...] I'll say that if you get back into the game, this is the moment when the market is making the most money,” says The Wolf of Wall Street.
Belfort called the current market downturn a "cleansing." He also believes that the potential of bitcoin will be realized when the crypto sector becomes fully regulated.

- After cryptocurrency began to fall in price due to the bankruptcy of FTX, a video of Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger smashing cryptocurrency began to circulate on social networks. In a 2018 video, this legendary investor stated that the crypto industry is attracting a large number of charlatans who use people “who are trying to get rich because their neighbor is rich.” Then he said that cryptocurrencies are “rat poison squared” and a bad outcome awaits them. Buffett's right-hand man Munger, in turn, called cryptocurrencies "disgusting" and said that their price will fall to zero eventually.
“It turns out that old people really know what they are talking about,” economist Steven Geiger commented on the words of Buffett and Munger.

- Analyst Jason Pizzino opined that bitcoin bulls would not allow BTC to fall to $10,000. “We have a figure of $14,900 in the spot market as a cycle low and around $15,500 depending on which exchange you use.” According to Pizzino, “If we get above $18,500 or $18,600, that would be a strong indication that the whole thing was just a shake-up, and perhaps the losses will be offset during November and there will be a return to $20,000.”
“However, that doesn't mean that once we close above that $18,500, we can't go back down,” the trader added. “If the decline continues throughout November, then we will get a price of about $13,500, which is relatively well in line with the previous highs of the old 2019 cycle.”

- According to Morgan Stanley analysts, another sale may take place in the coming days. Traders will turn to selling due to the fact that BTC was unable to gain a foothold above $17,000. The result, most likely, will be a fall in the BTC rate below $15,000. In the event of such a rollback, the cryptocurrency can only qualify for immediate support in the $14,000 region. Moreover, Morgan Stanley does not exclude that bitcoin will find the bottom at $13,500 or even $12,500. But it will be the worst of scenarios.
Delphi Digital also came to a similar conclusion. Its report says that market consolidation has been delayed and that technical indicators hint at a new reset by the end of November. At best, bitcoin will be able to stay in the range of $14,000 to $16,000.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- The bankruptcy of the FTX exchange collapsed the crypto market. After it became known about the liquidity crisis of Alameda Research, a crypto trading company owned by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Binance CEO Chang Peng Zhao published a message about selling FTT tokens. The relationship between Binance and FTX is a complex and long story, starting with Binance receiving $2.1 billion for withdrawing from FTX investments. 
Recall that FTT is a token created by the FTX team, and Chang Peng Zhao’s actions immediately led to a rapid drop in its value. FTX users began to massively try to withdraw their savings. During the day, all BTC (about 20,000 units) were withdrawn from the exchange, and the exchange's balance is currently negative. In addition to FTT, the price of Sol and other tokens of the Solana project, which is linked to both FTX and Alameda, fell sharply as well. Other cryptocurrencies have also been affected by the decline.
Binance CEO Chang Peng Zhao announced on Tuesday, November 08 that his exchange is going to buy FTX, which is facing a liquidity crisis. However, this is currently just an intention that is not binding. 
Against the background of all these events, bitcoin fell significantly in price, falling by 14.2% on November 8: from $20,701 to $17,756. Ethereum “shrunk” by 28%, it fell from $1,577 to $1,135. The total capitalization of the crypto market has decreased from $1.040 trillion to $0.853 trillion. As experts explained, “investors don't like to see any disruptions in any risky asset.”

- Nigerian presidential candidate Adewole Adebayo said that the introduction of the latest technology will help reduce unemployment in the country and promised to use blockchain and digital currencies to create 30 million jobs. His future administration intends to join forces with 2,000 local cryptocurrency companies to do this.
Residents of another country, Lebanon, whose national currency has fallen by 96% against the US dollar, see salvation in cryptocurrencies as well. Inflation has hit triple digits since August 2019, and the minimum wage has been cut from $450 to $17, according to CNBC. As a result, mining has replaced full-time jobs for some of the country's citizens.

- The total volume of lost bitcoins, as well as digital gold in the wallets of long-term crypto investors, has reached a five-year high. This means that the active market supply of cryptocurrency is decreasing, promising optimistic prospects for prices, provided that demand increases or remains constant.
Cumberland, the cryptocurrency arm of venture capital firm DRW, also believes that a “promising uptrend” is forming in the volatile digital asset market. “The dollar's seemingly inexorable rally ended up killing sentiment in all major risk asset classes earlier this year,” the firm said. “This rally seems to have peaked, probably as a result of expectations that the Fed will change course by mid-2023.” Another tailwind for digital assets, according to Cumberland, is the easing of geopolitical turmoil, namely the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the resolution of problems in supply chains.

- Many on-chain metrics, including Pewell's multiplier, RHODL Ratio, and Reserve Risk, signal that bitcoin is deeply oversold and is likely to reach the bottom of the bearish market. This is stated in October analytical report by ForkLog. At the same time, some indicators point to the risk of a new wave of redistribution and price consolidation in the range of $16,500-21,100.

- Having analyzed bitcoin’s previous price action, including its upper highs and lower lows since November 2021, crypto analyst Moustache concluded that the cryptocurrency has displayed a “bullish megaphone pattern.” In his opinion, the expanding model, which looks like a megaphone or an inverted symmetric triangle, indicates that bitcoin could reach $80,000 around the summer of 2023.
As for the shorter-term outlook, some analysts believe that bitcoin could regain a critical support level by the end of 2022 and possibly even regain its $25,000 high.

- Speaking at Web Summit 2022, billionaire Tim Draper predicted that the price of the first cryptocurrency would rise to $250,000 by mid-2023. However, this prediction is not new at all. Back in 2018, Draper predicted bitcoin at $250,000 by 2022, moved the forecast to early 2023 in the summer of 2021, and extended it now for another six months.
Draper is confident that women will be the main driver of the next bull market, as they control about 80% of retail spending. “You can’t buy food, clothing, and housing with bitcoin just yet, but once you can, there will be no reason to hold on to fiat currency,” the billionaire added.
He also called digital gold an insurance against mismanagement and noted that cryptocurrencies prevent the government from controlling the population. “You saw speculators get out of bitcoin. Only hodlers remain, they're into it. They say it creates a freer and more trusting world. [Bitcoin] is an honest currency, not tied to banks and governments. It is decentralized,” Tim Draper explained.

- Mastercard Chief product officer Michael Miebach believes that it will take longer than expected for cryptocurrency to become mainstream. In his opinion, this asset class will become much more attractive to people as soon as the supervisory authorities introduce the appropriate rules. Many people want but do not know how to enter the crypto industry and how to get the maximum protection for their assets.
Like Tim Draper, Miebach sees a future world where the majority of consumers around the world use bitcoin in their daily transactions and settlements. However, he believes that this will not happen in the coming months: “I think there is a long way to go before cryptocurrency becomes mainstream.”

- The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has determined that cryptocurrency fraud falls into three categories. The first relates to fraud, where the victim believes they are investing in a legitimate asset. However, the crypto app, exchange, or website turns out to be fake. The second category of scams involves fake crypto tokens used to facilitate money laundering activities. The third type of fraud involves the use of cryptocurrencies to make fraudulent payments.
ASIC says the top signs of a crypto scam include “getting an offer out of the blue,” “fake celebrity ads,” and asking a “romantic partner you only know online” to send money in crypto.
Other red flags include asking to pay for financial services in crypto, asking to pay more money to access funds, withholding investment profits "for tax purposes" or offering "free money" or "guaranteed" investment income.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- October 31, 2022, marks 14 years since Satoshi Nakamoto published the bitcoin white paper. The white paper described how the peer-to-peer payment system worked that would revolutionize the financial technology world.
The bitcoin network was launched in January 2009. Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared two years later, and the public has never been able to find out who wrote the document that underpins the multibillion-dollar industry. It is unknown as well whether it was one person or a group of people.

- UN Secretary-General António Guterres has noted that new technologies have “unsurpassed potential to improve the lives of people” but are also used to finance terrorism. “Terrorists are abusing new technologies to spread disinformation, foment discord, recruit and radicalize, mobilize resources and carry out attacks,” he said.
The UN plans to involve states in regulating the industry, to combat abuse of digital assets. Few countries, however, have begun work on regulation, and even fewer have “successfully applied it” to curb illicit activity. At the same time, cash and hawala, an informal financial settlement system used mainly in the Middle East, remain the predominant methods of financing terrorism.

- According to the Coin ATM Radar center, after the failure in September (minus 459 devices), the number of bitcoin ATMs in the world increased in October by more than 200 units and reached 38,823. 
Robocoin installed the world's first such ATM in a coffee shop in Vancouver (Canada) on October 29, 2013. 348 transactions worth more than $100,000 were made through the device during the first week. This operator no longer exists, and the focus of distribution has shifted to the United States: the country accounts for 88% of the total number of bitcoin ATMs. Canada retains the second line of the world ranking with a share of 6.6%. Spain came in third on October 22, 2022, with 215 bitcoin ATMs, or 0.6% of the total. Recall that analysts at Grand View Research predict that the bitcoin ATM market will reach $1.88 billion by 2028.

- Former Goldman Sachs CEO and macro investor Raoul Pal has allowed the digital asset market capitalization to rise to $300 trillion in the next 10-15 years. According to him, the capitalization of almost all financial markets ranges from $200 trillion to $300 trillion. Pal believes that cryptocurrencies will also reach this level in the future as part of the “fastest and most massive growth” in history.
The expert's forecast is based on the amount of activity around the digital asset industry and Web3. Pal also noted an influx of $60 billion in venture capital investments over the past 18 months. He is confident that the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies will soar immediately after the end of the macroeconomic turmoil. 

- The author of popular comics and books, American cartoonist Zach Weinersmith said that the only meaningful argument he heard from cryptocurrency supporters is that they do not want centralized power over money.” According to Weinersmith, gold can be used in this paradigm. Vitalik Buterin joined the discussion of his tweet and gave three arguments in favor of cryptocurrencies as money: 1. Gold is incredibly inconvenient and difficult to use, especially when dealing with unreliable parties. 2. It does not support secure storage options such as multi-signature. 3. Today, gold is less common than digital assets.
“So, cryptocurrencies are the best choice,” concluded the ethereum co-founder.

- Blockchain security firm Peckshield shared some horrifying statistics on digital asset theft on Halloween night. As of October 31, 2022, $2.98 billion worth of digital assets have been stolen, according to published data, nearly double the $1.55 billion lost in all of 2021.
October has broken all records, fitting its new nickname "Haktober". During this month alone, the attackers stole assets worth a whopping $760 million (although $100 million was recovered). After October, the second largest amount of stolen funds was in March, during which just under $710 million was stolen. Most of the losses were related to the hacking of the Ronin bridge used in the Axie Infinity sidechain, as a result of which $625 million worth of crypto assets were stolen.

- BNY Mellon, America's oldest bank, said that 70% of institutional investors would increase investment in crypto, albeit under certain conditions, such as "custody and execution that would be available in recognized, reliable institutions."
The BNY Mellon report notes that "nearly all institutional investors (91%) are interested in investing in tokenized products." But at the same time, they are looking for ways to enter the cryptocurrency market safely, and not invest recklessly in the hope of high profits.

- Grayscale Investment has released the results of its survey. Experts planned to find out how ordinary Americans feel about the cryptocurrency industry. Only 52% of those surveyed agreed that cryptocurrencies are the financial future. And only 44% of respondents said they were considering investing in digital assets. At the same time, the majority of respondents (81%) agreed that cryptocurrencies need clear regulation rules. 

- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong predicts that bitcoin will become a reliable asset over the next 5-10 years that can provide investors with security in difficult times. The billionaire believes that the market capitalization of BTC is not yet large enough for the first cryptocurrency to act as a serious hedge asset. However, according to the businessman, everything can change around 2030, when the crypto market will grow and “take a large share of the global economy.” Bitcoin can be then treated as digital gold, investments in which can protect during a crisis.
The head of Coinbase admitted that he has now overestimated the chances of bitcoin to act as insurance against inflation. “I thought that the situation in the economy could draw more attention to BTC, but it looks like it’s too early,” the billionaire said.
Cathie Wood, manager of ARK Invest, shares a similar opinion. In her opinion, the capitalization of bitcoin will grow to $4.5 trillion, and it can become more valuable than most fiat currencies, including the US dollar.

- The cryptocurrency market flagship continues to trade above the $20,000 key level. Kitco News analyst Jim Wyckoff noted that bulls are technically dominating bears. The specialist does not rule out that consolidation may form on the market in the near future before the quotes move into a phase of stable growth. Wyckoff has not ruled out either that bitcoin could experience increased volatility in the coming weeks.

- An analyst aka Plan B believes that bitcoin is on the verge of a new cycle. The expert predicts an uptrend for two reasons. First, thanks to the recent rise in the value of bitcoin, investors who collectively own more than 60% of the available coins have made profits. According to Plan B, this factor indicates the upcoming BTC price pump. Secondly, the RSI index speaks in favor of the increase in the value of bitcoin. The value of this technical indicator has recently dropped to its all-time low, that is, the market has fallen into an extreme oversold zone, so a reversal is inevitable.
Researchers at Glassnode agree with Plan B. Their latest report says that the bitcoin market is currently in an accumulation phase, leading up to a massive bull run. There is a trend at the moment, similar to what happened at the beginning of 2019 before the rapid increase in bitcoin's value more than threefold.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Most of the 564 crypto investors surveyed by MLIV Pulse think that bitcoin will continue to trade in the $17,600-25,000 price range until the end of 2022. Almost two-thirds (65%) of retail investors said that the regulation of the crypto industry was more attractive than a repulsive factor for buying digital assets. The figure was 56% among professionals.
Only a third of respondents admitted the possibility of flipping: the superiority of ethereum over bitcoin in terms of market capitalization in the next two years. After being asked to choose one word to describe the crypto industry, investors were almost evenly divided between opposite options: “Ponzi” and “future.”

- Katie Wood, the head of ARK Invest management company, shared her opinion on the capitalization of the first cryptocurrency. She predicted a rise to $4.5 trillion even when bitcoin was trading at $250. It was then that Wood asked Arthur Laffer, a well-known economist, and member of the US President Reagan's Advisory Board, to study the digital gold white paper. ARK Invest CEO was interested in the prospects of bitcoin as a unit of account, a means of preserving value and circulation. Laffer spoke positively about the first cryptocurrency. “I've been looking for this ever since we dropped the gold standard. Bitcoin is a rules-based monetary system,” he said. Laffer also compared the prospects for capitalization of digital gold with the size of the US monetary base.
Wood added that it was this conversation that prompted her to immediately invest more than $100,000 in bitcoin, which was 400 BTC at that time (about $8.0 million at the time of writing).

- The quotes of the first cryptocurrency will reach $100,000 next year, against the background of the approaching halving. This was stated by well-known trader Ton Weiss in an interview with Kitco. He also warned that the price of digital gold could fall to $14.000 before the bull market sets in.
According to Weiss, capital flows from Europe to the United States and the syndrome of lost profits can become the engine of growth. “They missed their chance to catch the low in 2018. This is another possibility. If bitcoin ever drops below $10,000, investors will immediately take advantage of this,” the trader explained.
He also noted the decentralization and resistance to censorship of the first cryptocurrency. According to Weiss, these characteristics will provide the asset with mass adoption. “We are seeing how governments, the Central Bank and ordinary banks freeze accounts. This year alone, we have seen how the West and the US confiscate funds from people because of their Russian passports,” he said.

- One of the events that could significantly push the price of BTC up is the halving, which is due to take place in 2024. This opinion is also shared by a well-known crypto trading specialist under the nickname PlanB. He provided an analysis of previous bitcoin price movements and made predictions for the future using a Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model. His colleague was supported by another trader and analyst, Josh Rager, who also expects bitcoin to grow significantly after the halving in 2024. At the same time, in his opinion, growth should not be expected before this event.
As we know, the last bitcoin halving took place on May 11, 2020, when the reward for each created block was halved to 6.25 BTC. This reward will again be halved to 3.125 BTC per block during the fourth halving, which is expected to take place in May 2024.

- The legendary trader and analyst Peter Brandt has a slightly different opinion. He said that bitcoin would reach a new all-time high in about 32 months, but it would first fall to $13,000. The expert believes that the first cryptocurrency will find this bottom at the beginning of 2023 and will not show “impressive” performance over the next year and a half.
According to Brandt, the US Federal Reserve is not going to ease monetary policy. He assumes that the regulator will raise interest rates by another 75 basis points at least twice more by the end of 2022 in order to combat inflation.
However, the analyst expects that the value of the first cryptocurrency will no longer depend on other markets at some point. “Bitcoin will eventually correlate with bitcoin,” Brandt explained. The expert also noted that the cryptocurrency will become the “main store of value” in the next 10 years.
Recall that Peter Brandt has been working in the financial markets for more than 40 years, he is the creator of the Factor Trading service, which provides expert reports and analysis of asset value charts. Brandt has repeatedly noted that bitcoin is one of the largest parts of his investment portfolio.

- According to an October survey conducted by the financial company Finder, the median forecast of analysts is that the price of BTC will reach $270,722 by 2030. They also think that the first cryptocurrency will be traded at $21,344 by the end of this year.

- His Majesty's former Treasury Chief, Rishi Sunak, became the new British Prime Minister on October 25. He was remembered for his benevolent attitude towards cryptocurrencies in his previous position. In his opinion, innovations can make payments cheaper and faster.
His department began developing regulation for stablecoins in 2020 and announced research on Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).  The future Prime Minister stated in April 2022 that he aimed to turn the UK into a "global hub for crypto-assets technologies." Sunak instructed the Royal Mint then to issue NFTs, and the Treasury announced plans to legalize stablecoins.
However, the agency ruled out the use of algorithmic stablecoins as payment mechanisms in May, amid the collapse of Terra. The Treasury has also considered additional measures to protect against “stable coin” disasters like UST.
Twitter users recalled that Sunak is easy to navigate popular NFT collections, and when taken a blitz survey, he chose both bitcoin and ethereum from the two leading cryptocurrencies.

- The bitcoin community is divided over whether BTC will rise or fall next year. There is reason to believe that BTC is likely to collapse sharply in the coming months but will then rise in middle to late 2023. Most analysts and technical indicators suggest that it could drop to $12,000-$16,000 in the coming months. This correlates with a volatile macro environment, stock prices, inflation, Fed data, and (at least according to Elon Musk) a possible recession that could last until 2024.
On the other hand, influencers, BTC maximalists and a number of other fanatical barkers claim that the price of the first cryptocurrency can soar to $80,000 and more. According to trader and analyst Kevin Swenson, we may see an 80-week bear market turn into a bull market around April. The deflationary nature of BTC, thanks to the halving, will contribute to this price increase.
Michael van de Poppe, CEO of trading firm Eight, has joined the cohort of analysts anticipating the rise of the first cryptocurrency. He believes that bitcoin has been consolidating around $20,000 for too long and should soon get out of the corridor to shake things up. “Bitcoin will break through all levels within two to three weeks. And I think it will be up. I think we'll get to $30,000."
The outflow of BTC from centralized exchanges also speaks in favor of a possible growth: this indicates that investors are withdrawing funds to cold wallets in anticipation of the growth of the first cryptocurrency.

- Other experts, on the contrary, believe that we will not see a surge either in the near future or in 2023. Gareth Soloway of InTheMoneyStocks has pointed out that there is a small chance that the coin could even crash to $3,500. “I think we will see a small bounce in the near future, then a wave down to $12,000-13,000, and then, I am afraid, we will move to $8,000-10,000, maybe even see a drop to $3,500,” he says. At the same time, Gareth Soloway warns that if BTC falls to $12,000 or below, it may not be profitable for miners to manage the ecosystem. This would mean that transactions are no longer being processed. And this, in turn, can not only damage the industry, but also destroy the bitcoin market.

- Frank Giustra, a billionaire who built his fortune on investments in the mining industry, believes that the US authorities will destroy cryptocurrencies sooner or later. He suggested that the US government plans to develop a jurisdiction for its own blockchain. “I think the US authorities really want to be ahead of the rest of the planet in terms of blockchain, not in bitcoin, but in a state-owned digital currency that they can fully control. Like all other countries, they don't need bitcoin competition. Therefore, I see BTC as a game against sovereign fiat money.” Giustra added that bitcoin has no chance of standing up to world governments.
The billionaire tried to convince crypto investors to invest in real gold. “If you invest in precious metals, the government will not be able to take them away from you when it destroys all assets not controlled by them in the digital world.” 

- The correlation between the prices of bitcoin and gold over the past 40 days has reached a significant value of 0.5, which is a strong increase after it was almost zero in mid-August. At the same time, the volatility of bitcoin turned out to be less than that of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones. Accordingly, the price of the coin began to fluctuate less following the change in these two main indicators of the world's largest capital market.
Bank of America, in a letter to investors, expressed the opinion that “the decrease in bitcoin's positive correlation with the S&P 500 and the rapidly growing relationship with gold indicate that investors may be considering bitcoins as a relatively “safe haven” in a situation where there remains macroeconomic uncertainty in the world, and the “bottom” of the market may eventually be fixed.”

- As the most frightening holiday of the year approaches, there is another factor to consider when investing during this period: the “Halloween effect”. This is a popular sign among traders, which suggests that bitcoin and the stock market tend to perform well from the end of October to the end of May.
According to Finbold, BTC's price has only increased year-on-year over the past three Halloweens. However, it would be too reckless currently to assume that a digital asset could show growth for the fourth year in a row. But even stranger things happen in the world. According to estimates by 28,488 members of the CoinMarketCap community, the average implied BTC price on Halloween, October 31, 2022, will be $21,248, which is 65.17% lower than on the same day last year. Bitcoin was trading at $61,300 on October 31, 2021, with a market capitalization of $1.156 trillion, up 344.39% from BTC’s Halloween 2020 price of $13,794. 


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Forex and Cryptocurrency Forecast for October 17 - 21, 2022

EUR/USD: Market, Are You Crazy?

Throughout the first half of the week, EUR/USD moved sideways along the 0.9700 horizon as markets waited for the release of US inflation data. And it was on Thursday, October 14 that the Department of Labor Statistics of the country published fresh values of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which exceeded the forecast values. In monthly terms, the September CPI reached 0.6% against the forecast of 0.5%, in annual terms - 6.6% against the forecast of 6.5% and the previous value of 6.3%.

The first reaction of the markets was quite expected. The DXY dollar index soared to 113.94 points (the highest value since September 28, when a 20-year high of 114.79 points was reached), the yield of 10-year treasuries updated a 14-year high, reaching 4.08%, and EUR/USD reached the level 0.9630. Risky asset quotes associated with the dollar by reverse correlation went down. The S&P500 index fell by 2.4% and updated its 2-year low. Dow Jones, Nasdaq and crypto assets behaved in a similar way.

But something extraordinary happened in less than one hour: all the markets, as if going crazy, turned 180 degrees all of a sudden. Moreover, for no apparent reason.

The dollar began to lose its positions rapidly: DXY fell to 112.46, and EUR/USD broke through 0.9800. On the contrary, the S&P500 was positive by the end of Thursday and grew by 2.6%. Analysts cite the strong oversold stock market as the main reason for this change in sentiment and the sharp increase in risk appetites. It is believed that stocks lose about 30% during recessions. At this stage, the S&P500 is down 27.5% during 2022. Therefore, some investors have decided that the bottom has already been reached or will be reached soon, and it is time to start buying. A large number of put options have recently been bought in the US market, on which profit-taking took place, and the freed fiat was used to purchase risky assets.

Despite the events of the past week, market opinion regarding the further increase in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve has not changed. Billionaire investor Ray Dalio has warned that the US will face a "perfect storm" of problems: a combination of debt, political infighting, and conflict abroad. But at the same time, despite the threat of a recession, the Fed will have no other choice to beat inflation.

The market has no doubts that the key rate will be increased by 75 basis points (bp) at the next meeting of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) on November 2. The largest North American financial derivatives market, CME Group, estimates the probability of this at over 90%. Moreover, it is possible that the rate will also increase to 75 bp in December (or, alternatively, by 50 bp in December and another 50 bp in Q1 2023). The peak of the rise is predicted at the level of 4.93-5.00% per annum, and this rate may remain until 2024.

As for Europe, the ECB representative and head of the Slovak Central Bank, Peter Kazimir, recently said that “raising the rate by 75 bps in October is appropriate”. However, this had almost no impression on the market. Economists at Commerzbank still expect the European regulator to raise the rate to only 3.0% by March next year. Thus, it will still be far behind the USD rate.

In addition, the energy crisis and the problems associated with sanctions against Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine will also continue to put pressure on the common European currency. According to analysts at Commerzbank, the euro will start to recover only when investors bet more and more on the end of the crisis next year. In the meantime, they write, “a decisive tightening of monetary policy and a remarkably strong US economy make the US dollar the favorite currency of international investors.”

Thus, EUR/USD in the short term is still aimed south. And according to the forecasts of DBS Bank strategists, if it breaks through the important support level just below 0.9600, it may fall into the range of 0.8270-0.9500, which was observed in 2000-2002.

Following the release of September US Retail Sales and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, the EUR/USD pair was trading in the 0.9750 zone at the time of writing the forecast on Friday evening, October 14. 55% of analysts support the fact that it will continue to move south in the near future, another 35% expect it to move north, and the remaining 10% vote for a sideways trend. Among the trend indicators on D1, 90% are red and 10% are green. The picture is quite different among the oscillators: only 40% of them advise selling the pair, 15% are in favor of buying, and 55% have taken a neutral position.

The immediate support for the EUR/USD is at 0.9700, followed by 0.9670, 0.9630, 0.9580 and finally the September 28 low at 0.9535. The next target of the bears is 0.9500. The resistance levels and targets of the bulls look like this: 0.9800-0.9825, 0.9900, the immediate task is to return to the range of 0.9950-1.0020, the next target area is 1.0130-1.0200.

The upcoming week's calendar highlights Tuesday October 18, when the German ZEW Economic Sentiment Index is released. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the Eurozone will be known. And there will be data on manufacturing activity and the housing market in the US on Thursday, October 20.

GBP/USD: UK Changes Course

In general, the GBP/USD chart was similar to the EUR/USD chart last week, except for the volatility. The local minimum was fixed at the level of 1.0922, the maximum - 1.1380, thus the range of fluctuations for the five-day period amounted to more than 450 points.

The statistics on the UK economy released this week looked mixed. Friday, October 14, was the key day, when Prime Minister Liz Truss fired Treasury Secretary Quasi Kwarteng. Now, after this event, the markets are awaiting details about the country's upcoming mini budget. Former British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been appointed as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Liz Truss has announced a dramatic change in fiscal policy. However, this has not helped the British currency much so far: it was in the 1.1200 area at the end of the working week.

As for the median forecast, here the majority of analysts (75%) side with the bears, 25% have taken a neutral position, while the number of supporters of the strengthening of the pound is 0. Among the oscillators on D1, the ratio is 60% to 40% in favor of the reds. Among the trend indicators, only 15% are colored red, 40% are green, and the remaining 45% are neutral gray.

The nearest levels and support zones are 1.1100, 1.1055, 1.0985-1.1000, 1.0925. This is followed by 1.0500-1.0740 and the September 26 low of 1.0350. When the pair moves north, the bulls will meet resistance at the levels of 1.1300, 1.1350, 1.1400, 1.1470, 1.1500, 1.1610, 1.1720, 1.1800 and 1.1960.

Regarding the release of UK macro statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be released on Wednesday, October 19, as in the Eurozone, and UK retail sales for September will be announced on Friday, October 21.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES: How Much Will BTC Be Worth on October 9, 2024?


The crypto market was relatively quiet until Thursday October 13. The BTC/USD pair, despite the downward pressure, looked quite stable, holding positions around $19,000. However, it flew down  after the values of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) became known, following the stock indices S&P500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq. However, it never reached the June 19 low of $17,940, and having found a local bottom at $18,155, it then went up sharply, following the stock indices. At the time of writing this review, on the evening of Friday, October 14, the pair is trading in the $19.375 zone.

According to Amsterdam Stock Exchange trader Michael van de Poppe, bitcoin price volatility will increase in the second half of October. The US inflation data, along with the latest data on retail sales and labor market dynamics, will have a strong impact on both Wall Street and the cryptocurrency market. The next important point will be early November, when the Fed is likely to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.75%. Based on this, JP Morgan strategists predict a new collapse of the S&P500 index, by about another 20%. Thus, the unrealized loss of those who invested in the shares of the 500 largest US companies at the beginning of 2022 could exceed 44%. However, many crypto investors hope that, as in the case of the recent crisis in the UK, bitcoin will play the role of digital gold this time and will not collapse after other assets. It will become clear in the foreseeable future whether these hopes will come true.

If we look at the latest analysts' forecasts by color, the palette is as follows: short-term forecasts are dark black, medium-term forecasts are gray, and long-term forecasts are sky blue.

Among the dark blacks, this time, let's highlight the scenario of Zack Voell, who is a mining analyst at Braiins. He has recently shared a model that reflects BTC's price performance in previous bearish cycles. Zach Voell studied the behavior of quotes in all past periods between highs and lows, on the basis of which he predicted a fall in the BTC rate to $13,800.

The analyst emphasized that he studied the behavior of the bitcoin price in 2011, then in 2013-2015 and 2017-2018, as well as during the current cycle, which began in November 2021. According to him, the value of the cryptocurrency lost more than 80% of its peak values the last two times. If history repeats, the rate will fall to at least this mark and may even go lower. He noted among other things that the bearish cycle of 2011 led to a drop in the value of BTC by as much as 95%. However, this happened when the cryptocurrency was practically unknown to anyone and was not on the way to mass adoption.

Voell also noted that despite the negative sentiment, bitcoin was the most profitable asset in Q3 2022. Digital gold has shown extreme stability in the past months. (Apart from BTC, according to statistics published by NYDIG, only precious metals and fiat USD turned out to be profitable in Q3).

Now let's talk about what may happen in the last, Q4 2022. Mike McGlone, senior strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, predicted a rise in the bitcoin price by the end of 2022. Digital gold and ethereum tend to outperform most major assets during economic downturns. Therefore, McGlone called the increase in interest rates by Central banks “a strong tailwind.” He noted that October has been the best month for bitcoin since 2014. At the same time, the analyst believes that ethereum's transition to the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm can help ETH and BTC gain a foothold above the $1,000 and $20,000 levels, respectively.

Such levels for ethereum and bitcoin will certainly not impress investors. Therefore, this forecast of the Bloomberg Intelligence strategist can be classified as neutral gray. Then move on to sky blue scenarios.

Paul Tudor Jones, a trader and founder of the Tudor Investment Hedge Fund, said in an interview with CNBC that he continues to hold a position in the first cryptocurrency. According to the influencer, the first and second most capitalized cryptocurrencies will be valuable “at some point” because of too much money.

That moment, according to Raoul Pal, could come when the Fed retreats from its plans to fight inflation by tightening monetary policy. This Real Vision founder and former Goldman Sachs chief executive said that the macroeconomic background is beginning to look attractive for investing in cryptocurrencies. Many investors are now in a state of extreme fear, fearing that the global financial system will soon collapse. And this could be a growth catalyst for risky assets like bitcoin and altcoins.

According to the businessman, investors are very negative and are playing it safe. Previously, the market had incredibly high amounts of investments, but the market does not work now, as sellers predominate over buyers. This situation may encourage the Fed to relax its monetary policy.

“There is currently no liquidity on the market, as only sellers are left there. I think this will cause huge problems in the future. Ultimately, businesses will demand more money to be issued and the situation on the market to be changed,” said Raul Pal. So once Central banks start printing money again, assets like bitcoin and altcoins will rise. “This is a sad state of affairs, but this is the real situation,” says the financier. “You will be able to see when the shift comes and use it to your advantage by investing in cryptocurrencies.”

A popular crypto analyst known as Dave the Wave accurately predicted the bitcoin crash in May 2021. He believes now that if bitcoin equals gold in the long term in market capitalization, this will be equal to an increase in its price by about 40 times. According to the expert, this global goal can be achieved within two decades.

The rainbow price chart of the Blockchain Center looks no less optimistic. (It differs somewhat from our forecast). It shows how past price statistics can help predict the future behavior of an asset. In the long term, the graph indicates that bitcoin could reach a six-figure value of $626,383 by October 9, 2024. The flagship cryptocurrency will reach the “maximum bubble territory” then, marked in dark red.

Additionally, the chart indicates that the current crypto winter may have bottomed out. It is noteworthy that bitcoin's current price is estimated to be in the “Main Sale” zone (marked in blue). Ahead of another bull run, the rainbow chart also shows that bitcoin’s “HODL” status will take effect at the end of the year when the asset trades at $86,151.

The color bars follow a purely logarithmic regression, which has no scientific basis. In addition, the bands have been adjusted to match past periods in the better way. However, the chart creators note that this is at least an interesting way to look at the potential future profitability of the main cryptocurrency.

At the time of writing, the total crypto market capitalization is $0.927 trillion ($0.946 trillion a week ago). The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has climbed 1 point in seven days from 23 to 24 and is still in the Extreme Fear zone.


NordFX Analytical Group


Notice: These materials should not be deemed a recommendation for investment or guidance for working on financial markets: they are for informative purposes only. Trading on financial markets is risky and can lead to a loss of money deposited.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Paul Tudor Jones, a trader and founder of the Tudor Investment Hedge Fund, said in an interview with CNBC that he continues to hold a position in the first cryptocurrency. “I still have a small bitcoin investment,” Jones noted. According to this Wall Street King, the first and second most capitalized cryptocurrencies will be valuable “at some point” because of too much money.
Jones pointed to the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve. It was quite simple until 2018, but the regulator “went too far with quantitative easing” two years later to support the economy, and then changed its strategy drastically. “Inflation is a bit like toothpaste,” the famous trader explained. "Once you squeeze it out of the tube, it will be difficult to put it back. The Fed is furiously trying to wash that taste out of their mouths. […] If we go into a recession, it will have a really negative impact on a range of assets.”

- Mike McGlone, senior strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, predicted a rise in the bitcoin price by the end of 2022. Digital gold and ethereum tend to outperform most major assets during economic downturns. Therefore, McGlone called the increase in interest rates by Central banks “a strong tailwind.”
He noted that October has been the best month for bitcoin since 2014. At the same time, the analyst believes that ethereum's transition to the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm can help ETH and BTC gain a foothold above the $1,000 and $20,000 levels, respectively.

- A popular crypto analyst known as Dave the Wave accurately predicted the bitcoin crash in May 2021. He believes now that if bitcoin equals gold in the long term in market capitalization, this will be equal to an increase in its price by about 40 times. According to the expert, this global goal can be achieved within two decades.
Dave the Wave also notes that the MACD momentum indicator may indicate soon if BTC has hit the market bottom. “The recent local downtrend is now equal to the previous uptrend. A monthly closure with a strength/contraction histogram will contribute to a significant assumption [if not confirmation] of the bottom.”

- Google has announced that it will soon start accepting payments for subscriptions to its own cloud services in cryptocurrency. This was reported by the CNBC news agency. The partner of the IT giant is the Coinbase crypto exchange. It is noted that Google will accept 10 types of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and even Dogecoin. The feature will become available in early 2023. At the first stages, only “a few corporate clients in the world” will be able to pay Google with cryptocurrency. However, a much larger number of Google users will later access it.
According to CNBC, Coinbase will receive a commission on each transaction, the amount of which has not yet been disclosed. However, it is noted that as part of the partnership, Coinbase will abandon Amazon's cloud infrastructure in favor of a similar solution from Google.

- Amsterdam Stock Exchange trader Michael van de Poppe believes that bitcoin's current low price volatility will begin to increase in the second half of October, after US inflation data is released. Together with the latest data on retail sales and labor market dynamics, it will have a strong impact on both Wall Street and the cryptocurrency market.
The next important point is early November, when the Fed is likely to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.75%. The probability of this is estimated above 90% at the Chicago CME Group. If so, according to JP Morgan, the S&P 500 index, which has lost 24.21% since the start of the year, faces a new collapse of about 20%. Thus, investors will be able to receive less than $56 out of the $100 dollars that they invested in the shares of the 500 largest US companies.
Bitcoin's price is sure to react to such a move in the US stock market, but how? Opinions differ here. Wall Street stock prices, like any other risky asset measured in USD, are under pressure that the dollar DXY index is rising and is now reaching its highest level since May 2002 (113 points). However, the correlation of cryptocurrencies with the stock market is not stable: it either rises or falls. And it will become clear in the foreseeable future whether bitcoin can become a hedge asset against the risk of unwinding global inflation at this stage.

- Real Vision founder and former Goldman Sachs CEO Raoul Pal said that the macroeconomic background is beginning to look attractive for investing in cryptocurrencies. Many investors are now in a state of extreme fear, fearing that the global financial system will soon collapse. And this could be a growth catalyst for risky assets like bitcoin and altcoins.
According to the businessman, investors are very negative and are playing it safe. Previously, the market had incredibly high amounts of investments, but the market does not work now, as sellers predominate over buyers. This situation may encourage the Fed to relax its monetary policy.
“There is currently no liquidity on the market, as only sellers are left there. I think this will cause huge problems in the future. Ultimately, businesses will demand more money to be issued and the situation on the market to be changed,” said Raul Pal. So once Central banks start printing money again, assets like bitcoin and altcoins will rise. “This is a sad state of affairs, but this is the real situation,” says the financier. “You will be able to see when the shift comes and use it to your advantage by investing in cryptocurrencies.”

- An experienced cryptocurrency market expert Zack Voell, who is a mining analyst at Braiins, shared a model that reflects the dynamics of bitcoin (BTC) prices in previous bear cycles. He studied the behavior of quotes in all past periods between highs and lows, on the basis of which he predicted a fall in the BTC rate to $13,800.
The analyst emphasized that he studied the behavior of the bitcoin price in 2011, then in 2013-2015 and 2017-2018, as well as during the current cycle, which began in November 2021. According to him, the value of the cryptocurrency lost more than 80% of its peak values the last two times. If history repeats, the rate will fall to at least this mark and may even go lower.
He noted among other things that the bearish cycle of 2011 led to a drop in the value of BTC by as much as 95%. However, this happened when the cryptocurrency was practically unknown to anyone and was not on the way to mass adoption.
Voell also noted that despite the negative sentiment, bitcoin was the most profitable asset in Q3 2022. Digital gold has shown extreme stability over the past months. In addition to BTC, according to statistics published by NYDIG, only precious metals and fiat USD turned out to be profitable in Q3.

- According to the analytical cryptocurrency platform Santiment, large bitcoin holders have increased their BTC savings by 46.173 coins (about $929 million) since September 27.
The list of so-called whales includes owners of addresses that store between 100 and 10,000 bitcoins. Analysts stressed that such activity by large coin holders is very rare this year. Apparently, bitcoins were bought with USDT stablecoins: the the latter's stocks in whales' wallets have fallen significantly.
It is quite possible that large holders expect the crypto market to grow. Indeed, bitcoin has been trading along the Power Point $20,000 for several weeks now, and this is an accumulation phase that should give way to an up phase. At the same time, 45.72% of all available bitcoins were stored on whale wallets at the end of September: this is the lowest figure in the last 29 months.
It has been repeatedly said that the fall in digital and other risky assets is associated with an increase in base rates by regulators in the United States and other world leading economies. However, financial analysts expect the Central banks of these countries to start cutting rates to combat the economic recession. This should push the price of bitcoin up.

- The bitcoin consolidation near the $20,000 level continues, and one of the tools used to determine the possible movement of the price of BTC is the Blockchain Center’s rainbow price chart. It shows how past price statistics can help predict the future behavior of an asset.
In the long term, the chart indicates that bitcoin could hit six figures at $626,383 by October 9, 2024. The flagship cryptocurrency will reach the “maximum bubble territory” then, marked in dark red.
Additionally, the chart indicates that the current crypto winter may have bottomed out. It is noteworthy that bitcoin's current price of about $19,500 is estimated to be in the “Main Sale” zone (marked in blue). Ahead of another bull run, the rainbow chart also shows that bitcoin’s “HODL” status will take effect at the end of the year when the asset trades at $86,151.
The color bars follow a purely logarithmic regression, which has no scientific basis. In addition, the bands have been adjusted to match past periods in the better way. However, the chart creators note that this is at least an interesting way to look at the potential future profitability of the main cryptocurrency.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Analysts have estimated the “painful” breakeven threshold for miners at $18,300. According to Glassnode's calculations, 78,400 BTC could be at risk of liquidation if the price of bitcoin goes below this price, which follows from the mining difficulty regression model. This value is slightly higher than the June low of $17,840.
Against the background of price stability, mining metrics are improving, which is a signal that the situation will improve in the coming months. In particular, the hash rate reached a record 242 EH/s. The growth of computing power is due to the introduction of the most efficient ASIC devices. This confirms the dynamics of revenue per EH/s (4.06 BTC). In dollar terms, it ranges from $78,000-$88,000. The last time such values were observed was after the halving in October 2020, when bitcoin was worth half what it is now (~$10,000).
The balances of miners, which account for 96% of the current hash rate, have 78,400 BTC, the maximum number of coins that can increase sales in case of stress for this category of market participants. At the moment, most of the sales are carried out by miners associated with the Poolin pool. In September, representatives of this company admitted that there were problems with liquidity. 
Glassnode experts also noted a growing likelihood of increased volatility after a long period of consolidation in the $18,000-20,000 range.

- McDonald's restaurant chain has started accepting BTC payments in Lugano, Switzerland. Back in March, Lugano authorities announced that they would make digital gold, USDT, and the city's LVGA token "de facto" legal tender. The decision was the development of an initiative to turn the city into the “Bitcoin Capital of Europe”.

- Robert Kiyosaki, the author of the bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad, called the strengthening of the US dollar an excellent opportunity to buy the first cryptocurrency and other digital assets. “Buy more. When the Fed turns around and cuts interest rates, you will smile while others cry,” he said.

- George Soros' former Quantum associate, billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, predicted a revival of digital assets amid the collapse of the fiat-based economy. He said this at the CNBC conference. The financier expects a "hard landing" of the economy in 2023 against the backdrop of an aggressive tightening of the Fed's monetary policy.
In his opinion, quantitative easing and low rates led to bubbles in financial markets. These factors have not only been stopped now, but reversed. The Fed has begun cutting its $9 trillion balance and has already managed to raise the key rate five times to 3.25%, expecting its peak at 4.60%. “You don’t even need to talk about black swans to start worrying,” the billionaire said. In his opinion, if confidence in the actions of central banks is lost, cryptocurrencies “will play a big role in the revival”.

- Unlike global investors, ordinary people look at what is happening a little differently. The collapse in the crypto assets market forced not only the older generation, but also young people to reconsider their attitude towards them. The financial company Bankrate conducted a survey, according to which, the number of Americans who were comfortable investing in digital money has dropped sharply.
Millennials, who had previously been considered most open to new technologies, have lost confidence in cryptocurrencies more than others. The percentage of young people for whom cryptocurrencies were a convenient investment method fell from 49% in 2021 to 29% in 2022. People between the ages of 40 and 55 are losing trust in digital assets as well. Over the year, this figure fell from 37% to 21%. Among the older generation, the figure fell from 21% to 11%.
“It's much easier to invest enthusiastically in something when you see its value constantly increasing,” says Greg McBride, Chief Financial Analyst at Bankrate. “A real test of the faith happens when the market falls, and what you fervently believed until recently ceases to be profitable. Recent movements have forced many to reconsider their attitude towards the digital asset market radically.”

- Some different data was provided by The Block. According to their calculations, despite the global bearish trend, the number of active investors in the bitcoin network continues to grow. This trend is due to the serious economic crisis in Europe, against the background of which retailers are increasingly investing in the main cryptocurrency in order to diversify risks. According to The Block, the number of investors in the bitcoin ecosystem has grown by 4.5 million since January 1, 2022.
It is noteworthy that the number of bitcoin addresses with a balance of at least 0.01 BTC reached an all-time high of 10.7 million this month. About 47% of holders remain in profit, despite the flagship cryptocurrency's prolonged drawdown relative to its historical maximum.

- Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz suggested that a reversal could form in the stock market in October. The expert also stressed that the Fed's policy is likely to remain aggressive. And there are no clear signs so far that the US department is ready to cut interest rates, as such a drastic move would harm efforts to combat inflation. However, the expert did not rule out that the regulator may re-initiate the quantitative easing procedure at some point in order to stabilize the market situation.
The head of Galaxy Digital believes that bitcoin looks quite stable in the current macroeconomic conditions, and that BTC will still be able to reach $500,000 within a few years.

- Unlike many optimists, cryptocurrency strategist and trader Cantering Clarke expects BTC to crash to five-year lows amid stock market weakness. According to his calculations, bitcoin could fall by almost 40% from current levels if the S&P 500 stock index resumes its bearish trend. “If the S&P 500 drops to the next major area between 3,200-3,400 [pips], I think the correct assumption is that the crypto crash will be 2-3 times greater. This means at least that BTC will re-test the largest protrusion in five years: about $12,000-13,000,” the trader warns.
However, in the short term, he believes bitcoin bulls could bring back some confidence to the market if they manage to gain a foothold above $20,000. “If we can break these local highs, I think BTC will see some momentum,” Cantering Clark predicts.

- Social media users are vigorously discussing the fact that October 7 will be a key day for the cryptocurrency market this week. The fact is that the US authorities will announce updated data on unemployment and wages in the non-agricultural sector of the country this Friday. Employment and CPI data will signal how much the Fed will raise interest rates at its next meeting in November.
Experts are clearly divided on the future of the industry. Some of them predict a rapid growth in the exchange rate of the flagship cryptocurrency and altcoins due to the geopolitical situation in the world. Others, on the contrary, predict a protracted crisis. In their opinion, the industry will face a crypto winter in the next few years, so there is no point in waiting for prices to rise.

- According to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, failure to regulate cryptocurrencies could harm the entire US financial system. According to her, this industry, left without regulation, is fraught with risks, although they do not pose a “real threat” to financial stability so far.
A true cascade of defaults and bankruptcies in the crypto industry has led firms like Celsius, Voyager, and Three Arrows to file for bankruptcy and prevent clients from withdrawing funds. We can recall the fall of the Luna token and the Terra stablecoin associated with it. All this led to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deciding to increase its focus on the digital asset market by doubling its crypto division staff in May. And SEC chief Gary Gensler even called this entire industry the “Wild West”.

- Increased regulation of cryptocurrencies is often frowned upon by crypto investors, and the threat of such increased regulation has often been a bearish factor for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which oversees the US futures market, believes that proper regulation could have a powerful bullish effect on the price of BTC.
CFTC chief Rostin Behnam explained that a clear regulatory framework could help increase the number of institutional investors. According to him, “these incumbent institutions in the crypto space see a huge opportunity for an institutional influx that will only happen if a regulatory structure is put in place around this market.” Behnam also noted that the bill submitted to the US Senate would make the CFTC the main regulator of the crypto industry, expanding the commission's powers and requiring crypto firms to register with the CFTC.

- The founder and CEO of The Birb Nest brand Ardian Zdunczyk shared his thoughts on bitcoin and what cryptocurrency can expect in the last quarter of the year. He noted that historically the fourth quarter was successful for BTC, and it would be interesting to see if the leader of the crypto market can repeat the previous successes. Zdunczyk cited historical data, proving that investors can expect good returns over the next two months. True, he made a reservation that no one would give guarantees.
Another argument in favor of the pre-New Year rally is the fact that the coins have risen slightly compared to their 200-day trends. Unlike fiat currencies that show roller coasters, bitcoin is stable in the range of $19,000 to $20,000. And now all markets are waiting for stability. They are already tired of the recession, the fall in company shares, the IMF's gloomy forecasts, and the ill-conceived policies of the Central Banks. Therefore, against such a background, bitcoin is becoming more and more attractive.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Analytical software provider MicroStrategy purchased an additional 301 BTC for $6 million. This is stated in the report submitted to the SEC. Michael Saylor, founder and ex-CEO of the company, said that purchases were made between August 2 and September 19 at an average price of $19,851 per BTC. MicroStrategy's previous investment in the first cryptocurrency took place in June: the firm purchased 480 BTC worth about $10 million.
MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries currently own 130,000 BTC, purchased at an average exchange rate of $30,638 per coin. Thus, unrealized losses on this investment exceed $1.5 billion. 

- The monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve has led to the emergence of "tumors" like bitcoin. This was stated by the philosopher and author of the cult work “Black Swan” Nassim Taleb. “I believe we had 15 years […] of Disneyland which basically destroyed the economic structure. The Fed missed the mark by cutting interest rates too much. Zero interest for a long period of time damages the economy, bubbles are created, tumors like bitcoin are created,” he said, calling for a return to “normal economic life.”

- Willy Woo, a well-known bitcoin investor and analyst, believes that the BTC rate is being held back for political reasons. As he noted, it is currently theoretically possible to sell unlimited amounts of BTC due to futures contracts, although in reality the offer is limited to 21 million coins. “Futures markets can control the BTC rate,” the investor says. “CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) has set up a kind of bitcoin casino where you can play in US dollars. Wall Street hedge funds loved it. What are the current restrictions on the sale of bitcoin? None, because fiat has no restrictions.”
Woo believes that due to the structure of the futures market, major players can suppress BTC by exerting pressure in the form of selling an asset: “Bitcoin should not be killed. Just the ability to short BTC is enough to suppress the exchange rate. Bitcoin will not be able to make a global impact without a high price. The SEC's policy is now aimed at increasing liquidity and the predominance of futures by approving futures ETFs, while spot ETFs are being rejected. Everything has turned into a political game now.”

- Nicholas Merten, an analyst and founder of DataDash, believes that after BTC's unsuccessful attempt to stay above $19,000, it will fall to $14,000. In his opinion, this is influenced by both technical and macroeconomic factors.
Thus, BTC's 200-week moving average (WMA) has become a resistance level, not a support level. Bitcoin has almost always remained above this indicator throughout its existence, with rare breakdowns to the downside, marking the bottom of the cycle. Currently, the 200-week WMA is around $23,250, and bitcoin is struggling to rise above this level.
Merten concluded that BTC's recent exchange rate movement could signal the end of a 10-year bull market, and it can no longer be a leading asset compared to other commodities and stocks. According to the analyst, the next bottom of BTC could be around $14,000, which would mean an 80% correction from the all-time high, as in the case of previous bear markets. “$14,000 is a potential low at the moment. However, investors should consider an even sharper fall to $10,000.”
As for ethereum, Merten expects the asset to retest the $800-$1,000 range, although he doesn't rule out a move lower.
The decline is facilitated by the actions of the Fed, whose hawkish monetary policy caused the collapse of the cryptocurrency and stock markets in 2022. Despite the potential dangers to the economy, Merten does not expect the US Central Bank to stop raising rates until a confident victory over inflation.

- An analyst with the nickname DonAlt believes that BTC will update the lows of 2022 against the backdrop of weak stock market performance. He predicts a fall below the $18,000-20,000 range and a new cycle low. “It often happens with such ranges that after it is broken, an increase occurs. And now there is a good chance to break through the $18,000-20,000 range and then form a bullish momentum. The only question is how low bitcoin can go because it can easily go all the way to $15,000.” “My forecast is based on the S&P 500 and looks terrible,” DonAlt writes. “It looks like this index is in for a serious drop and a return to support at 3680.”

- The ongoing cryptocurrency bear market is unlike any before it as the Fed is running the ship this time around. Ethereum has fallen by about 15% since September 15, the completion date for The Merge update. Bitcoin has fallen by about 3% over the same period.
Ethereum’s price had roughly doubled from its yearly lows in June, by far outpacing bitcoin’s rise, ahead of the network upgrade. And Vijay Ayyar, vice president of the Luno crypto exchange, believes that the Merger had already been “factored into the price” of ETH, and “the actual event has become a “news selling” situation.
Traders are now moving investments from ethereum and other altcoins back to bitcoin, Ayyar said, “as bitcoin is expected to do better in a few months.” At the same time, the specialist believes that any “change in the macroeconomic environment in terms of inflation or unexpected interest rates” could lead BTC to fall below $18,000, and the coin will test levels up to $14,000.

- Investors are wondering if ethereum’s regulatory status could change after the Merge. The reason for concern was the words of Gary Gensler, Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This official said last week that cryptocurrencies operating under the Proof-of-Stake model that applies to ETH can be classified as securities. Thus, these assets fall under the competence of the regulatory authorities. Gensler did not specifically name ethereum, but it is clear that in this case, the coin will attract close attention of the SEC.

- Takis Georgakopoulos, head of the payments division at JPMorgan investment bank, said that customer demand for cryptocurrencies has plummeted over the past six months. Most likely, the situation is related to the fall of the crypto market, which dragged on for several months. More than $2 trillion has disappeared from the market. Well-known companies working with digital assets are on the verge of bankruptcy. For example, Celsius and Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy in July due to lack of liquidity.
Recall that JPMorgan strategists recommended at the end of August that investors focus not on cryptocurrencies, but on stocks and long-term bonds until the economic situation stabilizes.

- Bloomberg Senior Analyst Mike McGlone is convinced that market signals indicate that the value of bitcoin is growing. The expert compared the current fall in cryptocurrency quotes with the fall of the NASDAQ index in 2002 and subsequent stable growth over a long period of time. Mike McGlone argues that bitcoin will benefit from a "new chapter in the economy" in which speculation is driven by more than just how much money the Fed is printing. “The days when unsustainable companies could exist are over. Now, if a business doesn't work, it's sinking. And this is good, because now that the market has cleared after a wave of bankruptcies, it is open to solid business,” he said.

- Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge complained at a meeting of the Kenyan Parliament that even in his inner circle there are many people who are trying to convince him to convert reserves countries into bitcoins. The official called the idea insane. And he added that if the country takes the path of legalizing bitcoin, he will oppose it, even under the threat of going to jail. “Can cryptocurrencies be called the best means for making settlements and payments? Are cryptocurrencies safer than a bank account? The answer is no," the governor of the Kenyan Central Bank said.
It is worth noting here that many Central Banks like to keep their reserves in gold bars. And according to a survey conducted by Paxos among regular buyers of physical gold, almost a third of respondents consider BTC as the best alternative to the precious metal. So the idea under discussion might not be that crazy.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Inflation in the US in August that was published on September 13, has amounted to 8.3%. Although this is less than the previous indicator of 8.5%, the figures have not lived up to market expectations. The forecast had assumed a decline to 8.1%. Market participants decided that the US Federal Reserve will tighten its monetary policy more actively and raise interest rates in such a situation. It is expected that the rate will rise by at least another 0.75% next week. As a result, against this background, the dollar began to rise sharply, and risky assets, including bitcoin and ethereum, started to fall. BTC fell below $20,000, ETH fell below $1,550.

- Analysts recorded the largest outflow of funds from crypto funds since June. According to CoinShares, it amounted to $63 million from September 03 to September 09 against $8.7 million a week earlier. Over the past five weeks, the cumulative withdrawal of funds from cryptocurrency products amounted to $99 million. Trade turnover (~$1 billion) was 46% below the average for this year.
The outflow from Ethereum funds continued for the third week in a row at even higher rates ($61.6 million vs. $2.1 million a week earlier). Analysts attributed this to investors' fears about possible problems of The Merge scheduled for September 15.

- The transition of the Ethereum network from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) will not solve the problems of scalability or high fees, but may lead to wider institutional adoption. The notable decrease in power consumption after The Merge will allow some investors to purchase this altcoin for the first time. This opinion was expressed by analysts of Bank of America (BofA).
“The ability to place ETH and generate higher quality returns (lower credit and liquidity risk) as a validator or through staking […] could also drive institutional adoption,” BofA admitted.

- A trader and analyst under the nickname filbfilb allowed in an interview with Cointelegraph the bitcoin to fall from current levels to $10,000-11,000. According to the specialist, bitcoin has become highly correlated with the Nasdaq, which is under enormous pressure due to the Fed's policies. The first cryptocurrency behaves as a risky asset, not as inflation insurance.
The expert noted that the upcoming winter will be a serious test for residents and politicians of the European Union, the consequences of which will have a negative impact on hodlers. The important thing will be how the countries of the Old World will cope with the energy crisis. According to him, everything is in the hands of diplomats who are able to prevent an emergency. Otherwise, risky assets will face a difficult future, which will also affect the positions of cryptocurrencies. The dialogue between Russia and NATO is important: the sooner it starts, the higher the bitcoin low will be, filbfilb emphasized.
The expert called the rally of bitcoin in the Q1 2023 "obvious". He sees two reasons for this. The first is the seasonal factor. Downtrends end 1000 days after the halving (which will be early next year. The second is a change in sentiments to positive ones, based on game theory. With a probability of 2/3, the expert suggested that Europe will survive the coming winter. But if things go badly, it will increase the likelihood of a dialogue with Russia that will bring stability in the short term.
The specialist also commented on the upcoming Merge on the ethereum network. He noted that the reduction in the issue of the asset could spur the growth of the coin. At the same time, filbfilb has not ruled out a dump after the event itself, citing the reaction of bitcoin after the halving, which is similar in effect to the merge.

- Another analyst and trader with the nickname Rekt Capital believes that everything is moving towards the final phase of bitcoin's decline. “A significant part of the BTC bear market is behind us, and the entire bull market is ahead. The bottom of the bear market will be in November, December or the beginning of the Q1 2023.”
The trader noted that the data signal a possible rise in BTC by 200%, but there is one caveat: Bitcoin could fall even more before it goes up. “Of course, in the short term, the BTC price could fall by 5%-10%,” Rekt Capital writes. “But in the long term, a rally of more than 200% is very likely.”

- Cryptocurrency analyst with the nickname Rager does not believe in the decline of BTC to $12,000. He noted that there are no guarantees when dealing with bitcoin, but it is very likely that the asset is forming a bear market bottom above $19,000. “A significant part of investors are wondering if the current levels are the low of the cycle. It is likely, but it is also worth noting that these levels are a good option for accumulating BTC for the long term. Everyone has seen bitcoin bounce around $19,000 several times, Rager writes. In addition, the analyst believes that the coin is still highly correlated with the S&P 500 index. And therefore, we will not see new cycle lows as long as it is above 3,896 points.

- The dependence of BTC on the US stock market weakened sharply in August and was at the annual low. However, it has begun to grow again and, according to the TradingView service, the correlation between bitcoin and the S&P 500 index has reached 0.59. The situation is similar with the Nasdaq. The correlation with it fell to 0.31 in August, and it rose to 0.62 in September. Analysts remind that the dependence of the crypto sphere on the stock market becomes strong after the correlation index rises above 0.5. When 0.7 is reached, the dependence becomes ideal. 

- Despite the depreciation of BTC, MicroStrategy intends to continue the acquisition of this asset. It will reportedly sell $500 million worth of its own shares. The proceeds from these sales will be used, among other things, to replenish the cryptocurrency stocks.
Earlier, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor stepped down as CEO to focus on the company's plans to acquire BTC. MicroStrategy has grown its holdings of bitcoin under his leadership, making it the largest corporate holder of the asset. It currently owns 129,699 coins purchased at an average exchange rate of $30,664. The last purchase (480 BTC) was made in June.

- Eugene Fama, American economist, and Nobel Prize winner in 2013, believes that the first cryptocurrency will only have value if it is used as money. However, according to the scientist, the viability of bitcoin as a means of payment is greatly reduced due to its high volatility. “Monetary theory says that a unit of account will not survive unless it has a sufficiently stable real value. Its real price should not rise and fall sharply,” the Nobel laureate believes.
Fama disagrees with the claim that BTC is a store of value. According to him, the idea that bitcoin has value should be considered a temporary phenomenon. “There has to be something really useful in the product so that people want to keep it for a very long time. But bitcoin has nothing that gives it value other than the investors who hold it. […] So bitcoin will collapse at some point,” the economist says.

- Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners, does not agree with Eugene Fama. He noted during his interview at the SALT conference that he is optimistic about the immediate prospects for the crypto-currency industry. In his opinion, many digital currencies can demonstrate their practical value in the foreseeable future. Novogratz also focused on the fact that the actions of market participants are formed taking into account the general rhetoric regarding a particular crypto project, and not its real functionality.
The expert added that BlackRock's entry into the crypto industry can be considered a monumental event that can have a significant impact on the entire segment in the future. Recall that BlackRock, Inc. is one of the world largest investment companies and the largest in the world in terms of assets.

- According to a survey conducted by Harris Poll, 70% of US crypto investors hope to become billionaires. Harris Poll interviewed 1,900 Americans from all age groups. Those who claim that cryptocurrencies can bring them billions are mostly millennials or generation Z. Analysts emphasized that American youth do not trust traditional financial instruments, while digital currencies, on the contrary, are becoming more and more attractive to them.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- A covert mining campaign has allegedly infected thousands of computers in 11 countries around the world with malware. The company is associated with Turkish software developer Nitrokod, which has been active since 2019. The company offers supposedly free programs, the official desktop versions of which do not exist. This was reported by experts at Check Point Research (CPR).
The attackers installed covert mining utilities into free apps based on popular services like Google Translate or YouTube Music. The popularity of the underlying source ensured high positions in the search results. The software is distributed through well-known free software platforms like Softpedia or uptodown.
Attackers managed to go unnoticed for a long time due to the complex and multi-stage infection. The hidden module for installing the mining utility was activated only a few weeks after installing the program on the computer. 
The malware injection process was divided into six time-separated stages, disguised as updates. At all stages, the installer removed traces in the logs, making it difficult to detect.

- With the exception of a few dozen tokens, most of the crypto assets on the market are “junk”, and the real options for using digital currencies are underdeveloped. This opinion was expressed by Umar Farooq, the head of the Onyx blockchain division of the financial conglomerate JPMorgan. He noted that regulation has lagged behind the growth of the industry. This deters many traditional financial institutions from participating in the market.
The CEO of Onyx also believes that the technologies of the crypto industry are not mature enough to be used, for example, to conduct high-value transactions between institutions or to place such products as tokenized bank deposits.

- The turnover of cryptocurrency investment products ($901 million) fell to the lowest level since October 2020 from August 20 to 26, and the outflow of funds continued for the third week in a row. Such estimates were given by CoinShares analysts. “While […] part of this dynamic is due to seasonal effects, we also see continued apathy after the recent price decline. It seems to us that caution is associated with the hawkish rhetoric of the Fed,” the experts explained.

- Bitcoin is “a purely speculative asset with no utility,” due to the lack of technological progress. This was stated by Justin Bons, the founder and chief investment officer of the Cyber Capital fund. He used to be a vigorous advocate for bitcoin, but changed his point of view, calling it “one of the worst cryptocurrencies”. “The world has moved forward. It used to be said that digital gold would simply embrace the best technology. This thesis, obviously, has not been fully confirmed. Bitcoin doesn’t have smart contracts, privacy technologies, or scaling breakthroughs,” Bons explained.
“The economic properties of bitcoin are incredibly weak as well. It competes with cryptocurrencies that can achieve negative inflation, high storage capacity and utility, such as post-merger ETH.” “People, for the most part, invest in the first cryptocurrency only because they believe in the price increase. They act on the same principle as participants in Ponzi schemes,” the founder of Cyber Capital believes.

- Analyst Justin Bennett decided to warn crypto investors of a possible sharp correction. According to him, the recent sell-off in the stock market will inevitably lead to a fall in the bitcoin rate: “The stock sale that has taken place confirms a major bull trap and is likely to cause prolonged decline. That is, the S&P500 will fall by about 16%, and BTC by 30%-40%, to the level of $12,000.”
“BTC is testing the 2015 trend line again,” the analyst writes. -"Do not believe those who consider it a healthy phenomenon. The two long bottom wicks of 2015 and 2020 indicating strong demand are worth looking out for. This time we are seeing exactly the opposite.” According to Bennett, the main target for the bears is the pre-COVID-19 high of $3,400.
Regarding ethereum, Bennett believes that the asset is forming the top of the “head and shoulders” pattern on the chart with a downward target near $1,000: “The right shoulder of this pattern is starting to form and ETH’s drop below $1,500 is the confirmation.”

- A similar scenario is given by Bloomberg analysts. They are also predicting ETH to fall below $1,000 despite its recent comeback from the August 29 lows. This is largely due to the volatility of the ethereum price in bearish market conditions. “Technical indicators of momentum and price trends show that the token’s decline from a peak near $2,000 in mid-August to the current zone near $1,500 is likely to continue,” Bloomberg said in their report.
Ethereum has been largely outperforming bitcoin lately as sentiment in the ETH community remains optimistic due to the upcoming merger. However, this has not provided the asset with any immunity to the recent unfavorable macroeconomic conditions.
Ethereum has established promising support on its 50-day moving average. However, after the market fell on August 25-26, the asset has been below this support, which indicates the risks of a further collapse and a retest of support around $1,000.

- CryptoQuant experts note that the fall in the price of bitcoin below the $20,000 threshold woke up the “ancient” bitcoin wallets that were active 7-10 years ago. Historically, a surge in the activity of such wallets happens when the first cryptocurrency makes unprotected movements or reaches long-awaited targets or support levels. Amid the panic in the cryptocurrency market, long-term holders can join the sellers and start dumping their holdings to avoid further losses. This trend is usually one of the first signs of capitulation among investors.
It is reported that 5,000 bitcoins are currently in motion from 10-year-old addresses. Despite the significance of the transaction, this is a relatively small volume. Similar wallets have Previously activated up to 100,000 BTC in a short period, creating huge pressure on the market. But even with a larger amount, there is no reason to panic, since the transfer can only be a redistribution of funds. During periods of high volatility, whales tend to spread their assets across different wallets in order to manage them more efficiently. 

- According to Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit, there are a lot of incomprehensible and useless terms in the cryptocurrency market. Because of this, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand for both experienced and novice traders and investors.
As Steve Huffman pointed out, almost no one in his company uses specific cryptocurrency terminology. It is incomprehensible to customers, completely confusing them. In his opinion, all this hype with complex terms that developers use only hides their illiteracy and misunderstanding of the cryptocurrencies basics.
The reason is probably that the crypto market is becoming more and more like a classic stock market. As a result, bureaucratization, expressed in incomprehensible terms, begins to dominate more and more. Many regulators from different countries introduce their own rules, developers try to show that they are smarter than competitors, startups write white papers so that investors can see that they understand all the intricacies. And it is almost impossible to read the laws dedicated to cryptocurrencies, they are so overloaded with mysterious terminology.

- Jordan Belfort, former stockbroker, commonly known as “The Wolf of Wall Street”, has admitted that his initial bitcoin zero prediction was wrong. “At the time, I really hated cryptocurrencies and I confirm everything I said about them in 2017, except for one thing: I was wrong about bitcoin zeroing out. Here I lacked attention, because it seemed to me that all digital assets are a scam,” Belfort said in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
The crypto winter of 2018 changed his mind. Moreover, the former stockbroker said that he came to understand that bitcoin harbors the qualities of digital gold. In his opinion, if cryptocurrencies are regulated, it is likely that BTC will start trading as a store of value, and not as growth stocks.

- John Wu, the head of the Avalanche (AVAX) platform, believes that despite the fall in the cryptocurrency market due to the correlation with stock assets, crypto investors expect “cosmic profits”. “The market needs to understand that in the crypto-asset space, investors will receive more than the average return on the market, the so-called alpha. There are very good reasons for this. The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has fallen, but stablecoins have not. This suggests that many investors hold them and are ready to deploy stablecoins in the market.”

- Investor and broadcaster Kevin O'Leary questions bitcoin's ability to rise above the $25,000 price level under the current conditions. O'Leary has drawn attention to the fact that the price of bitcoin is stagnating, as there is no regulation that allows institutional investors to invest in this sector. And without a regulatory framework, cryptocurrency cannot be considered a full-fledged asset class.
“You need to use the trillions of dollars that sovereign wealth manages, but they are not going to buy bitcoin because there is no regulation,” says O'Leary. “People forget that 70% of the world's wealth is in pension and sovereign wealth funds. Accordingly, if they are not allowed to buy this asset class, they do not bet on it. But I believe that we will get the regulation within the next two or three years. And then, finally, we will be able to achieve institutional participation.”


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Charles Edwards, the founder of the Capriole Investments crypto fund, came to the conclusion based on the data of the Difficulty Feed indicator that the surrender period of bitcoin miners has passed. This, he said, is "a great signal to buy." According to his observations, the last phase of surrender is the third longest in history (71 days). It is longer than in 2021, but two days shorter than in 2018. “Historically, the surrender of bitcoin miners recorded major price lows and served as excellent buy signals,” Edwards said.

- Meltem Demirs, Strategy Director at CoinShares, spoke of what awaits the two top coins at the end of Q3. According to her, now there is a summer lull in the crypto market, as a significant part of people do not trade actively during the holidays. But despite this, “we have seen a lot of buying on drawdowns with regard to BTC. There is capital willing to accumulate bitcoin.”
Demirors does not expect a significant increase in the price of bitcoin until the end of September: “Until the end of the 3rd quarter, BTC does not have catalysts that could contribute to growth. It is highly dependent now on macroeconomics, which was observed in the example of a significant correlation with the shares of companies in the technology sector.”
As for ethereum, the CoinShares strategist believes that investors are ignoring the general situation in the market, amid the hype around the transition of ETH to the PoS mechanism. And that, despite the benefits of the merger for the ethereum network itself, it is not certain that this event will attract significant investment capital: “While there is significant enthusiasm in the crypto community for a merger that can rapidly reduce supply and increase demand, the reality is more prosaic: investors are concerned about rates and macro indicators. I believe that significant amounts of new capital are unlikely to enter ETH. There are certain risks that need to be played out in the market because the merger has been used as an excuse to buy on the rumor and sell on the news. How will these risks be played out? Most likely it will be on the institutional side or through trading, but through options rather than outright purchases of the asset.” (Recall that the ethereum network upgrade is scheduled for the period from September 15 to 20.”

- For the first time since summer 2020, the average cost of a transaction in the BTC network has become less than $1, thus expanding the possibilities of using the asset as a means of payment. The need to pay significant fees when transferring small funds caused inconvenience and dissatisfaction among users. Previously, BTC transactions were slow and expensive, but improvements like the Lightning Network and Taproot give hope that this situation will never happen again. Currently, the average cost of BTC transactions has decreased to $0.825, which is the lowest level since June 13, 2020.

- Analyst Justin Bennett warned that BTC could face another sell-off. According to him, bitcoin has gone below the diagonal support level, which has kept the bullish sentiment over the past few months, and now the situation resembles a correction in May-June this year. “Bitcoin is currently looking almost identical to what we have seen a couple of times over the past few months, and it is moving below the bear flag.” According to Bennett, the BTC rate fell by more than 30% the last two times in such situations.
Although the analyst is bearish, he predicts a small short-term rise in BTC to $23,000, which should be retested as resistance. Then a decline to $19,000 is expected. Bennett believes that bitcoin’s reaction at $19,000 should determine its behavior for the rest of the year: “The question will be whether we see a rebound and higher lows, or if we get lower lows for the rest of the year.”
Crypto analyst and trader Neko believes the $21,700 level is key for bitcoin as it is the combined average breakeven of all bitcoin holders.

- Bitcoin on-chain activity has reached the same levels as at the end of the 2018-2019 bear market. This opinion was expressed by Glassnode analysts. However, despite the signs of the end of the “crypto winter”, network indicators still do not signal a reversal of the macroeconomic trend. The researchers note that the bitcoin network still does not record the presence of demand for cryptocurrency from investors, which is essential for a sustainable uptrend. “Recent price increases failed to attract a significant wave of new active users, which is especially noticeable among retail investors and speculators,” Glassnode notes. The lack of hype is also indicated by the falling fees in the bitcoin network. As noted, its average size has fallen below $1.
Despite this, the current consolidation phase of the bottom of the cycle is “most likely,” according to Glassnode. According to experts, it is at the current price levels that bitcoin can try to form a solid foundation for future growth. However, the coin is still trading in the middle of the corrective pattern that has been present since June 18, and the further direction of the trend remains unclear.

- The cryptocurrency market has been under pressure in recent months, however, according to Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael, bitcoin is entrenched in the financial system forever. The specialist is sure that the first cryptocurrency will show significant growth in the coming years. Cryptocurrency platform Bakkt provides digital assets and futures trading services for institutional investors, and their interest in the market is only growing, according to Michael.

- JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon warns of "something worse than a recession" in the US economy, with a 20-30% chance of this happening, which is a lot. Quantitative tightening (QT) by the Fed and macroeconomic factors increase the chances of a worsening recession, with which World Bank President David Malpass agrees. “The global economy is in danger again,” the financier says. “It is facing high inflation and slow growth at the same time. Even if a global recession is averted, the pain of stagflation could linger for several years.”
Members of the crypto community tend to interpret these statements as a growth factor for the crypto market. For example, Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of Skybridge Capital, believes that the price of bitcoin could rise to $300,000 over the next 12-24 months. At the same time, the same Anthony Scaramucci said that bitcoin is still “not mature enough” to be considered a full-fledged hedging asset. The capitalization of the first cryptocurrency is now at around $410 billion, which, of course, is not enough to hedge the inflation of the world's major economies.

- Entrepreneur Kim Dotcom believes that a strong drop would be good for the cryptocurrency market, as it would lead to the exit of most speculators who are focused only on making money on short-term fluctuations in the exchange rate. In his opinion, the crypto sphere will get a “second wind” when digital assets will be perceived by participants precisely as financial instruments with great potential. Dotcom also spoke about the future of the global economy. In his opinion, the US will not cope with the burden of its financial problems, and the US dollar will depreciate greatly.
For reference: Kim Dotcom is a German-Finnish entrepreneur, the former owner of the largest file hosting service Megaupload, the owner of the new file sharing service Mega from January to September 2013. Kim Dotcom was sentenced in Germany for using insider information. He was arrested on January 19, 2012 in New Zealand at the request of the FBI, but was released on bail on February 22.

- Crypto strategist Benjamin Cowen expressed his opinion on what could be the most negative scenario for ethereum. “In my opinion,” the expert says, “this is the logarithmic regression band, which signals a possible area of ¬$400-$800. I think it is worth considering this opportunity as a great option for savings.”
At the same time, Cowen also noted the possibility of ETH moving in the other direction: “At the same time, ETH can demonstrate a rally if the transition to PoS goes without significant problems (you need to be aware that some software updates do not always go smoothly) and the Fed changes its monetary politics."

- Unknown hackers broke into the settings of General Bytes bitcoin ATMs on August 18, with the help of which they were able to transfer cryptocurrencies deposited through devices to their wallet. The incident was confirmed by company representatives. According to experts, the hackers "scanned open servers, including those hosted in the General Bytes cloud service." They added themselves as administrator from there. The hackers then proceeded to change the “buy” and “sell” settings so that any cryptocurrencies received by the bitcoin ATM would go to their wallet. General Bytes added that previous security checks had not revealed this vulnerability.
For reference: General Bytes owns and operates 8,827 Bitcoin ATMs in over 120 countries. The company headquarters is in Prague, Czech Republic. ATM customers can buy or sell over 40 different cryptocurrencies.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Bitcoin Core team member Matt Corallo called the maximalists of the first cryptocurrency an “endangered species” and urged them to stop attacking other projects. According to him, the “most vocal proponents” are attacking other communities counterproductively instead of promoting the “greatness and uniqueness” of digital gold. In his opinion, in the context of the current policy of confronting projects in the crypto community, many of the Ethereum community (as with Ripple before) will begin to set regulators against bitcoin, relying on ecology.

- Law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Kazakhstan conducted a special operation, as a result of which the gang that controlled cryptominers was neutralized. 23 people were detained during several raids.  Weapons, black bookkeeping, as well as more than 6,000 items of mining equipment worth about $7 million were seized during the searches. It is reported that the criminals made a profit of $300-500 thousand per month due to the activities of the mining farms under their control.

- The number of cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide has increased to 39,015, according to the Coin ATM Radar service. The figure was 25,154 a year ago. The United States holds the leading position by a wide margin: 87.9% of the total number of bitcoin ATMs are concentrated there. Canada ranks second with 6.3%.

– Bitcoin is trading at a significant discount in a sustained bull market. This was stated by Mike McGlone, senior strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. “The first cryptocurrency hit an all-time low in July compared to its 100-week moving average,” he explained.
The analyst emphasized the high importance of the stock market, with which bitcoin shows a noticeable correlation, and mentioned the key role of the US Federal Reserve, which is pursuing aggressive rate hikes in 2022. This could potentially create barriers to risky assets, including cryptocurrencies and stocks. At the same time, Mike McGlone urged not to try to fight the Fed.

- Some on-chain indicators signaled the passing of the capitulation period and an improvement in investor sentiment in July. This is stated in an analytical report by ForkLog. Against the background of consolidation and the subsequent smooth recovery of the price of bitcoin, the Puell Multiple indicator began to exit the deep oversold zone. The Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) metric has moved into the hope/fear zone and is heading towards optimism. The MVRV Z-Score crossed the upper boundary of the deep oversold zone at 0.1 on July 28. This is another signal about the passage of the "bottom" of the market cycle.

- An analyst with the nickname Guy noted that the release of economic data expected this month could have a significant impact on the crypto markets. According to him, 3 important factors can interrupt the current uptrend. The first is the US Personal Consumption Expenditure Index (PCE). “PCE data for July will be released on August 26. Given that PCE is the Fed's favorite inflation indicator, a high value could lead to markets collapse in anticipation of an aggressive rate hike."
The second factor is the US gross domestic product for the second quarter: “Revised GDP data for the second quarter will also be published on August 26. Pay attention to them. If these figures are revised upwards, that is, in fact, the US will no longer be in a technical recession, this may push the Fed to raise interest rates even more.”
And finally, the third factor is the annual economic symposium at Jackson Hole, where US financial authorities, prominent figures from Central banks and a number of other sectors discuss global economic problems. The symposium will take place from August 25 to 27, which coincides with the release dates of the two above-mentioned statistics.
These factors could influence the decisions of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, which will have a cascading effect on the crypto market. “If the statistics turn out to be unimportant, and Powell is not in the best mood, then the crypto market will have a bad time. Although there are chances that he will keep his thoughts to himself long enough for the cryptocurrency market to continue its recovery rally.”

- Mike Novogratz, CEO of investment company Galaxy Digital, said that bitcoin is unlikely to rise above $30,000 anytime soon. He noted in an interview with Bloomberg that he does not observe an influx of institutional investors into the first cryptocurrency at the moment. The billionaire himself “would be happy” if BTC stopped for a while in the range of $20,000 to $30,000.
(Note that a recent survey of institutional investors by Cumberland showed that the majority of respondents expect bitcoin to rise to $32,000 by the end of the year.)
As for ethereum, Mike Novogratz believes that this altcoin could reach the $2,200 mark, given the momentum leading up to the upgrade to change the consensus algorithm from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which is expected in end of September.

- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes that the market has not yet taken into account the upcoming transition of the network to Proof-of-Stake, which should take place in September. “Once the merger actually happens, I expect investor sentiment to improve,” he said. “In my opinion, […] the main impact on the ETH rate will be provided after the completion of the merger process.”

- The World Tourism Organization at the UN has included El Salvador in its list. According to the President of the country Nayib Bukele, it was bitcoin that helped the significant growth of the tourism industry. The head of state stressed that only a few countries managed to return tourism indicators to pre-pandemic levels. The adoption of bitcoin as legal tender, as well as the creation of a "bitcoin beach", has attracted tourists from all over the world to El Salvador. The President also noted the growth of domestic tourism due to the decrease in crime. Nayib Bukele presented statistics from the search giant Google: El Salvador is marked on the map as a country with "higher than expected" tourist activity.
Morena Valdez, Minister of Tourism of El Salvador, said earlier that tourism in the country has grown by 30% thanks to bitcoin. At the same time, cryptocurrency enthusiasts stay in El Salvador for a longer period and spend more money. If the daily expenses of a tourist in the country ranged from $113 to $150 earlier, they exceed $200 now.

- The American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the largest investment company BlackRock entered into a partnership agreement last week. BlackRock manages over $10 trillion in assets at the moment. Based on this, a popular crypto analyst under the nickname InvestAnswers believes that the influx of funds into cryptocurrencies from BlackRock clients could push the BTC rate to $773,000.
“If BlackRock places 0.5% of its assets in BTC, then, taking into account the leverage, the capitalization of bitcoin will increase by $1.05 trillion, which means the price will rise to $75,000. And this, I think, is very likely. If BlackRock clients stake 1% of their holdings, then the capitalization will increase by $2.1 trillion, and bitcoin will reach $173,000. And if BlackRock places 5% of its assets, the bitcoin rate will reach $773,000. Although I think this is too aggressive, it may be possible within 3-5 years,” the analyst wrote. (It should be noted here that InvestAnswers calculations are correct only for investments with a leverage of 1:21 or more).

- According to Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of the FTX crypto exchange, crypto winter is probably coming to an end, and spring is just around the corner. “I think we've already seen the worst. There's still a little more to go, but it's not that bad,” said the multi-billionaire, better known as SBF. “Some bitcoin miners might have some problems, but I think we are talking about a few hundred million dollars in total pain, not billions.”
However, the SBF’s spring forecast was not without a “but”: “If Nasdaq is left to fall another 25%, and if interest rates do rise to 7%, and if we are in a recession for two and a half years […], bitcoin could drop to $15,000 or $10,000,” said the CEO of FTX.
The crypto winter froze a number of once-thriving companies such as Three Arrows Capital, Terraform Labs and Voyager Digital, but FTX survived the cold. Commenting on the incident, its head said that the recession "became a healthy weed" for the industry.

- Despite the decline in the price of the first cryptocurrency in 2022, the number of addresses with a balance of 1 BTC and more is growing steadily (+9.4% since the beginning of the year). The indicator reached a historical high of 891.009 at the end of July. The situation is even more pronounced with balances of more than 1 ETH, the number of which has grown by 15.7% over seven months.
This trend indicates the desire of investors to accumulate. Analytical resource The Balance posted a report stating that 39% of US investors began to invest more in cryptocurrencies. According to the author of the report, these Americans are looking for new areas of investment to maintain their savings amid economic uncertainty. Among millennials and Gen Z investors (aged 41 and younger), almost 50% prefer cryptocurrencies. Among investors of generation X and older, they are just under a third.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- The increase in the outflow of cryptocurrencies from exchanges and the growth of net inflow to stablecoins signal a bullish momentum in the market. This conclusion was made by analysts of Bank of America. They noted the “easing of pressure from sellers” with the transition of the initiative to buyers of digital assets. The experts pointed to the stability of the trend despite the Fed's increase in the key rate by 0.75% at once.
Bank of America estimated the amount of withdrawn bitcoins from cryptocurrency platforms to cold wallets at ~$508 million, ethereum at ~$381 million (data from July 2 to August 1). The first asset has risen in price by 19% over this period, the latter - by 56%.

- If bitcoin holds the $20,700 level, the price will soon be in the $27,000-$28,000 range. This is stated in the latest report from Arcane Research. A series of rising local lows has been forming on the chart since July. But “if bitcoin falls below $20,700, it will mark a falling low. This is a bearish signal in the context of technical analysis.”
The company emphasized that much depends on the dynamics of the US stock market, with which the price of bitcoin is closely correlated. The dynamics of the Fed's key rate also plays an important role. “Rising interest rates increase the cost of capital and thus cause stock prices to fall. Tech stocks are declining the most. As the degree of institutionalization has increased, bitcoin has become closely associated with traditional financial markets,” the researchers explained. According to them, if the stock market continues to fall, the downtrend of digital gold will continue.

- On the contrary, Glassnode has doubted the continuation of bitcoin's recovery rally. The rise in prices of BTC and ethereum in recent days is not accompanied by a fundamental improvement in the readings of on-chain indicators. And this does not give confidence in a fundamental change in the market situation, the company's analysts believe.
The number of active bitcoin addresses remains within the downtrend channel. With the exception of brief bursts during periods of capitulation, network activity remains subdued. This indicates a small influx of new demand. Similar trends are observed in the ethereum blockchain. Despite the recent powerful price movement, the network load in terms of the number of transactions has been systematically decreasing since May 2021 to the lowest levels since the summer of 2020.
There has been a surge in activity in recent weeks, which analysts have associated with the consolidation of coins in wallets. They explained that they would change their mind if this trend proved sustainable. Glassnode experts had previously warned that it might take additional time to form a solid foundation. This is evidenced by long-term indicators such as URPD. To increase the chances of a market reversal, it is important to see the transition of speculative coins into the category of “held by long-term investors” (in other words, the “age” of coins from the moment of purchase must exceed 155 days).

- North Korean hackers plagiarize online resumes from legitimate LinkedIn and Indeed profiles to get remote jobs at US cryptocurrency companies. This is reported by Bloomberg with reference to security specialists from Mandiant Inc. As a rule, North Koreans communicate actively on the profile site GitHub, pretending to be from other countries, ascribe to themselves specialization in the technology industry and extensive experience in software development. After getting a job, they are engaged in theft and laundering of illegally obtained digital assets. Naturally, the DPRK government denies any involvement in such crimes.

- The crypto analyst aka Dave the Wave, who correctly predicted the collapse of the crypto market in May 2021, is now talking about the approach of a bullish rally. The basis for this, according to him, are the signals of the Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) indicator, which was accurate to indicate the 300% BTC rally in 2019.
Dave the Wave noted that many traders are currently concerned about the uncertainty that is caused by macro-economic factors. However, in his opinion, these factors may not have such a strong impact on bitcoin as the market thinks. “Despite macro factors, BTC is doing its job,” the analyst said optimistically.

- According to Mark Yusko, managing partner at Morgan Creek Digital, the current structure of the bitcoin market indicates a bottoming out process. “I am not ready to say unequivocally so far whether the bottom has been reached,” the investor said. “But if you look back, you can see that bitcoin has made several higher lows and highs. […] This is a pretty good bullish trend, and a crypto spring is possible.”
Yusko agrees with the narrative that the main cryptocurrency goes through speculative cycles. In his opinion, BTC is in the “spring” part of the cycle and forms the basis for the next “summer” bull run, which should occur shortly before the next halving (2024): “In my opinion, the crypto spring has begun. If we look at the last two cycles, we see the same number of days in the cycle where spring began and winter ended. The crypto spring can last for months, and we don't need a bull market right now. When we get to the crypto summer, we will see the next bull run and it should happen in anticipation of the next halving in 2024.”
The head of Morgan Creek also believes that the current price of the first cryptocurrency is unfair. In his opinion, despite the forecasts of experts about a possible fall below $18,000, the "fair value" of the coin should be about $30,000. 
Recall that Yusko said last year that the price of the asset could soar to $250,000 by 2026. He also suggested that the market cap of BTC will be equal to the market cap of gold, as this digital asset has become a “perfect store of value” and is on its way to replacing the precious metal.

- Crypto trader and investor Bob Loukas agrees that halvings are driving market trends. And after bitcoin hits a new all-time high, the digital asset market, in his opinion, could plunge into a “true crypto winter” in 2026.
According to the Bob Lucas model, bitcoin market movements can be measured in cycles of 16 years, consisting of four micro cycles of 4 years each. In this case, the cycles must be counted from one local low to another. “In theory, bitcoin’s 2026 lows could form below the 2022 lows. Although, it’s hard to believe,” the investor said.
Recall that halving is a two-fold reduction in the reward to miners for a mined block in the blockchain embedded in the bitcoin code. Initially, miners received 50 BTC, this amount decreased to 25 BTC on November 28, 2012, to 12.5 BTC on July 9, 2016, to 6.25 BTC on May 11, 2020. The next reward cut to 3.125 BTC is expected in 2024 at block number 840,000.

- According to the results of July, receipts in cryptocurrency investment products amounted to $474 million (the maximum since the beginning of the year), $81 million for the week from July 23 to July 29. The influx continued for the fifth week in a row. Such data is provided by CoinShares experts. On the other hand, trading activity remains low. The volume of transactions with crypto products at the end of the last reporting week amounted to $1.3 billion, which is almost half the average since the beginning of the year ($2.4 billion).

- Jurrien Timmer, a macroeconomist at one of the largest American holding companies Fidelity, said that bitcoin and ethereum are comparable in terms of their market share and level of dominance in crypto industry with such a tech giant as Apple. “According to Metcalfe's law, the larger an ecosystem becomes, the more its value grows exponentially. Apple is an example. [...] The more iPhones and other devices it sells, the more exponentially it grows. And it grows until it becomes so powerful that a giant abyss forms around it, which cannot be overcome even if something much better than the iPhone is invented tomorrow,” the expert is sure.
Trimmer believes that other crypto projects will continue to compete with the two leading digital assets, but will not be able to win against the giant ecosystems of BTC and ETH.

- Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead believes the digital asset market has nearly bottomed out. There are still companies that are in the process of liquidation in bankruptcy court. However, the largest defaults have already occurred in May and June, when the pressure on the industry reached its peak. “I think we are really close to the end of the market crisis. The market has been falling for eight months now. We observed the most severe manifestations of the crisis in November, May and June. It seems that we have seen everything that we should have,” said the CEO of Pantera Capital.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- The number of attacks using ransomware has significantly decreased against the backdrop of the fall in the price of bitcoin, experts from the American company SonicWall noted. Researchers counted 236 million ransomware infection attempts in the first half of 2022. This is 23% less compared to the same period last year. According to the report, the number of ransomware incidents peaked in 2021. The targets of the attackers then were large companies that were forced to pay large amounts of cryptocurrency to hackers.

- The price of bitcoin bounced up from the $20,000 level, which concentrated the greatest attraction of speculators. This happened as a result of the transfer of coins from surrendered hodlers to "new" optimistic buyers. Glassnode experts emphasize that there was also demand from speculators earlier at the $30,000 and $40,000 levels.
Glassnode warns that it may take additional time to form a solid foundation. This is evidenced by such long-term indicators as URPD. To increase the chances of a market reversal, it is important to see the transition of speculative coins into the category of “held by long-term investors” (in other words, the “age” of coins from the moment of purchase must exceed 155 days).

- Peter Brandt, the head of Factor LLC, trader with 45 years of experience, criticized MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, who called bitcoin an ensured digital commodity. “It is ensured with energy only because of its excessive consumption, without ensuring an economic function. It's a huge myth that bitcoin is somehow more than just a consumer of energy,” Brandt wrote.
In response, Saylor emphasized that "all products consume energy." According to him, the economic function of bitcoin is to create a free global settlement network. "Since bitcoin is a commodity, it can fulfill the role of global digital money. The economic function is to grant property rights to 8 billion people, as well as to create a global settlement network that has already transferred $17 trillion of value in 2022,” he wrote.
Note that despite the criticisms of bitcoin, this cryptocurrency is one of the largest assets in the portfolio of Peter Brandt.

- Bitcoin continues to resist selling pressure and managed to stabilize above the $20,000 level on the eve of the US Federal Reserve meeting. According to a number of analysts, the main role in this was played by the whales (investors with a balance of 1000+ and 10000+ BTC), who maintain hodle sentiment and continue to buy bitcoin on exchange rate drawdowns.
It is worth noting the activity of the owners of small BTC balances. For example, the number of addresses with a balance of 0.01+ BTC has reached an all-time high of 10,543,548.

- A well-known analyst named PlanB, the creator of the Stock-to-Flow model, predicted the day when both US stocks and bitcoin reach new all-time highs. “Some people are afraid of macroeconomics, bitcoin's relationship with the stock market, etc.,” he tweeted. “My opinion is that the S&P 500 will be in the range of $5,000-$6,000 over the next 5 years, and bitcoin will be between $100,000 and $1 million.

- Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of the FTX crypto exchange, said that the adoption of cryptocurrencies is currently best in Latin America, and has huge prospects. The potential is estimated at $128 billion. Digital currencies will be used in various areas of life, primarily as a means of payment.

- Analysts from Forex Suggest analyzed different countries and regions in terms of parameters characterizing the availability of cryptocurrencies for citizens. Several parameters were evaluated: the number and availability of crypto ATMs, regulation of cryptocurrencies at the state level, startup culture, and taxation.
Hong Kong came in first with 8.6 points, ahead of the US and Switzerland with 7.7 and 7.5 points respectively. These two countries have a better cryptocurrency infrastructure and more ATMs per 100,000 people (in the US - 10, Switzerland - 6.5, in Hong Kong - only 2), but Hong Kong won in the availability of these devices for the population due to its compactness.
Low taxes on cryptocurrency income are also important. Hong Kong, Switzerland, Panama, Portugal, Germany, Malaysia and Turkey win here. But the number of requests for cryptocurrencies in search engines is the highest in Australia (4,579 requests per 100,000 population). Ireland and the UK are in second and third place.

- Jim Rogers, a major American investor, co-founder of Quantum Fund and Soros Fund Management, said that it will be necessary to enlist government support for this sector before considering cryptocurrency a reliable investment. BTC is only a gambling tool, not real money. Bitcoin is well suited for speculation but will eventually fail as a currency.
The specialist stressed that he will consider buying BTC if the European Union accepts it as an official currency and introduces it into the region's payment system. However, he will not buy cryptocurrencies at the moment, regardless of the prices at which they can be traded. Recall that Jim Rogers predicted in 2020 that the price of the main cryptocurrency will eventually fall to zero.

- Hollywood producer Ryan Felton pleaded guilty to receiving $2.4 million through a cryptocurrency scam. This is stated in the US Department of Justice press release. He raised the money through an initial coin offering for a streaming platform FLiK. The producer said that the company has the potential to bypass Netflix. In addition, the team behind the platform which was introduced to the market at the height of the 2017 ICO boom, claimed to be entering into licensing agreements with major film and television studios. In addition, Felton promoted another ICO in 2018: the CoinSpark crypto exchange, promising investors a 25% profit in the form of dividends.
As a result, the investors' funds were transferred to Felton's accounts and cashed out. he used them to buy a house for $1.5 million, a Ferrari for $180,000, a Chevrolet Tahoe SUV for $58,250, and jewelry for $30,000.

- British IT engineer James Howells became famous all over the world for admitting that he lost his hard drive in 2013, which contained a wallet with 7,500 BTC. This loser threw a disk from an old computer that he used for mining back in 2009 in a landfill. The poor man did not follow the news and did not know that these bitcoins were worth about a million dollars even at that time.
Almost 10 years have passed since then, but he is still trying to find the loss. James Howels has repeatedly requested the Newport City Administration to organize a massive search for the HDD over the past few years. Officials refused him time after time, citing inevitable environmental problems and a trivial stench throughout the city when digging up the entire territory of the landfill. In 2021, the treasure hunter offered the city authorities 25% of the value of his BTC (about $72 million at that time), but this did not help either.
Now, disillusioned with people, Howels decided to bet on robots. He will order two search robots-dogs of the Spot type worth $75,000 each from the American Boston Dynamics. Iron friends will be nicknamed Satoshi and Hal in honor of the creator of bitcoin and the cryptographer who received the first transaction. It remains a mystery how robot dogs with cameras or even metal detectors will be able to find a laptop HDD in a giant garbage field, already deep under the surface. And what happened to the disc after nine years of lying in a landfill? The magnetic recording is most likely damaged, although there is still a chance to recover information on specialized equipment.

- Crypto analyst Nicholas Merten believes that an unexpected rise in the market is likely, which will be a big surprise for the bears. “Bitcoin skyrocketed from $29,000 to $53,000 last July, up 80% within a month. I suppose that the market can grow up again now and retest the previous consolidation area around $30,000. There are no major resistance zones ahead and the moving averages are leading right into this point, giving bitcoin a great upside opportunity. Most people do not believe in this possibility, but the rally can surprise you with its scale in a market with excessive volumes of derivatives.”
Note that although Merten does not exclude BTC growth in the short term, he doubts that the asset will reach the bottom: “Many believe that the bottom was reached on June 18. Yes, we saw a huge sell-off and a good rebound. The market also got rid of significant amounts of borrowed funds used for crypto speculation. But one cannot discount the reality of the continued impact of the macro market, which will continue to limit long-term investment in cryptocurrencies.”

- The next big rise in cryptocurrency prices will occur before the next halving in the bitcoin network, which is scheduled for May 2024. This is the opinion of financial analyst Florian Grummes, Managing Director of the investment company Midas Touch Consulting. In his opinion, despite the recent minor recovery, the cryptocurrency winter is far from over. The rise to $35,000 will occur in 6-12 months. This will be a so-called "auxiliary rally" that may precede a larger rally.
In the long term, Grummes is confidently optimistic, but warns that since the crypto market is directly correlated with the stock market, one must be prepared for deviations not only upwards, but also downwards at the current stage.
This expert predicted BTC to rise to $100,000 in the 1st quarter of 2022 in the past, which did not happen. Therefore, his forecasts, as well as all other ones, should be treated with sufficient caution now as well.

- Raoul Pal, co-founder of Real Vision Group and former CEO of Goldman Sachs, believes that cryptocurrency markets are preparing for a serious positive trend reversal. The markets are mainly driven by liquidity, which comes from the M2 money supply, he said. This money supply correlates with the total amount of currency in circulation, plus it is highly liquid non-cash assets that can be easily converted into cash.
Most crypto investors believe that miner rewards at the next halving will drive up the price. However, Pal argues that the role of M2 is greater than that of halving: “Cryptocurrency is not driven by the business cycle, but by global liquidity. So the main indicator of the growth of bitcoin is the rate of change of M2. Every time there was an increase in the money supply, there was always a reversal, the specialist says.


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CryptoNews of the Week


- Congress and the SEC should take a tougher stance on the cryptocurrency industry. This was stated by a member of the US Senate Banking Committee Elizabeth Warren. “I am sounding the alarm about cryptocurrencies and the need for stricter regulations for consumer protection and financial stability. Too many companies have managed to deceive customers and rub ordinary investors in their face,” said the senator.
Warren's words came against the background of ongoing problems in the crypto industry. For example, Celsius Network suspended the withdrawal of funds “due to extreme market conditions” in June, after which it filed for bankruptcy. It became known about the introduction of limits on the withdrawal of funds by the CoinLoan platform on July 5, and the Vauld platform announced a possible restructuring.

- Assuming the market cycle repeats, the bearish phase of bitcoin will end in the first half of autumn. Such a conclusion can be drawn from the historical data provided by the analysts at Grayscale Investments. It took bitcoin 1,290 and 1,257 days to form a full cycle in 2012 and 2016, respectively. It took 391 and 364 days to fall from the peak by 73% in 2012 and by 84% in 2016. The duration of the current cycle, which began in 2020, has reached 1206 days (as of July 20, 2022). In other words, it may take another two or three months before the bottom is reached.

- A crypto strategist with the nickname Rekt Capital came to similar conclusions. In his opinion, despite the oversold signals, the downward exchange rate movement may continue for quite a long time. The analyst noted that the Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the BTC monthly timeframe is now below the lowest levels of the bear markets of 2015 and 2018, which could become new resistance levels for bitcoin.
According to Rekt Capital, the short-term prospects of the coin do not look very good, and the bottom can be reached only in a few months: “Bitcoin has about 650 days before the next halving (April 2024). Historically, it bottomed around 517-547 days before its halving. In the event of a repeat of history, bitcoin will need another 100-150 days before reaching the bottom, which will form in the fourth quarter of 2022.”

- Analysts at the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange use the 200-week moving average on the bitcoin chart as their main indicator. In particular, they drew attention to the multipliers with which BTC traded in the past relative to its 200-week SMA. Thus, having rebounded from the SMA200, bitcoin grew 15.2 times in December 2017. The growth was 13.2 times in November 2013. At the moment, BTC is trading close to its 200-week moving average. Its current value is about $22,485. If the coin shows a multiplier in the range of 13x - 15x again, it may rise to about $300,000.
Of course, the multiplier for BTC was not always 10x when touching the SMA200. Growth peaked at 5.8x in March 2021 before the crypto market began to decline noticeably. However, even with this value of the multiplier, bitcoin can rise to $130,000.

- The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned of a rise in fake applications for investing in cryptocurrencies. It is common for attackers to impersonate legitimate financial institutions in order to gain the trust of potential victims. They then persuade people to install fraudulent mobile apps and deposit money, which they then steal. According to FBI estimates, cybercriminals have recently managed to steal about $43 million in this way.
The Bureau recommended that cryptocurrency owners enable multi-factor authentication for all their accounts, reject requests to install suspicious applications, and verify phone numbers and email addresses on the official websites of companies allegedly acting on behalf of scammers.

- Edward Dowd, a former top manager at Blackrock investment firm, believes that despite the recent turmoil, bitcoin will become an integral part of any investment portfolio. The specialist believes that gold will remain a viable investment, but BTC is more likely to become a store of value. “At least BTC can be sold or exchanged digitally, but it is much more difficult with gold. Although I am not against gold, having a small amount of it is also a good idea,” says Dowd.
As the cryptocurrency industry matures, bitcoin will stand out from the rest of the market, the ex-CEO of Blackrock believes. He compared the cryptocurrency market to the era of the dot-com crisis, when the vast majority of Internet companies closed down, and only stronger competitors managed to survive. Dowd cited the example of Amazon, which is still considered one of the largest technology giants. Last month, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe also compared the current bearish trend in the cryptocurrency market to the dot-com crisis.

- American businessman Thomas Peterffy, whose capital is estimated at $18.4 billion, is ready to buy bitcoins when the value of the cryptocurrency drops to $12,000. This chairman of Interactive Brokers admitted in a recent interview with Forbes that he already owns digital assets and plans to acquire a few more coins if BTC drops in price. The billionaire does not intend to buy cryptocurrency at the current, high in his opinion, price, as he believes that in the future bitcoin is likely to depreciate or be banned in the United States. Despite the high financial risks associated with buying cryptocurrencies, Peterffy advised investors in January to invest 2-3% of assets in bitcoin in case “money goes to hell.”
Last week, Finder portal experts made a forecast for a decline in the value of bitcoin to $13,676. Analysts doubt that the price will fall below this value, and then Thomas' plan will not come true.

- Despite the fall of the cryptocurrency market, a poll on the social network Weibo with the participation of more than 2,200 people showed that Chinese traders are waiting for further decline in the price of bitcoin. 8% of respondents said they would buy BTC at $18,000 per coin. 26% of respondents will start purchases at $15,000. But if the bitcoin rate falls to $10,000, 40% of respondents will buy the first cryptocurrency.
Recall that trading in cryptocurrencies is prohibited in China. The People's Bank of China reported in March that the volume of BTC transactions in the country decreased by 80%, which indicates the effectiveness of the ban.

- Bitcoin rose above $23,000 as the US dollar weakened. The DXY index, which determines the strength of the USD, finally broke the rally that began on February 24 and rebounded from its twenty-year high at around 109.294 points, registered on July 14. At the time of publication, this drop has reached almost 2.5%.
The maximum price of BTC at the time of publication on 07/20/2022 was $23,911. Thus, bitcoin has grown by 26.6% compared to the low of July 13 ($18.886). This movement could be regarded as a technical rebound; however, the main cryptocurrency has overcome an important psychological level in the form of a 200-week moving average. According to analysts at the Binance crypto exchange, if the bulls manage to close the week above this level, it will be possible to ascertain the restoration of strong support characteristic of bitcoin bearish cycles.

- Bitcoin's break above the 200-week SMA caused a surge of enthusiasm among investors. Amsterdam Stock Exchange trader Michael van de Poppe first tweeted out a graphical forecast anticipating a cryptocurrency rally to $28,000 and then compared the current market situation to the recovery from the memorable collapse triggered by the announcement of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. At that time, bitcoin collapsed to $3,782, but then rose by 1.600% over the next 13 months (to $64,853 in April 2021).


Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]