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‘Interesting Week’ In BTC

By
Stanislav Shishkin
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'Interesting Week' In BTC

It may be all quiet on Jan. 17 in the absence of Wall Street, but Bitcoin markets might not stay that way for long.

Bitcoin (BTC) hovered near $43,000 on Jan. 17 as its “boring” price action combined with signs that the market could be stabilizing.

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Leverage comes off all-time highs

Data showed BTC/USD staying firmly within its established trading range between $40,000 and $45,000.

With few surprises expected thanks to the Wall Street holiday, traders took the opportunity to call for a level-headed approach on focus on altcoins.

Popular analyst William Clemente, meanwhile, highlighted Bitcoin bouncing along an ascending trendline this month, this soon to approach a turning point as part of a wedge construction.

“Should be an interesting week,” he forecast.

Beyond spot price, data showed that market composition still employed near all-time high leverage, this only just beginning to reduce in week two of January.

Such leverage prevalence previously sparked concerns that a liquidity cascade could be made all the more real, with a significant move up or down hitting traders.

“The highly increased leverage ratio of Bitcoin that since some days remains at an all-time high is showing concerns that a massive volatility increase will follow up,” commentator Vince Prince warned on the day.

“Technically if Bitcoin breaks the $40,000 level this will trigger a big chunk of stop-losses.”

Bitcoin leverage ratio chart. Source: CryptoQuant

Cardano stands out among altcoins

On the topic of altcoins, meanwhile, some moves diverged from the flat performance seen more broadly.

The top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap were led by Cardano (ADA), which conspicuously bucked the sideways trend to post daily gains of almost 9% at the time of writing. This placed ADA/USD at a three-week high.

“Crucially, the market psychology is working on ADA again,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe summarized.

“Last weeks the sentiment was comparable to a graveyard and expectations were that it would go south. Now, the sentiment is switching and the hype is getting back in.”

ADA/USD 1-day candle chart (Coinbase). Source: TradingView

Further down, Litecoin (LTC) managed 4.5% gains in some brief respite for hodlers.

“Another bounce at strong support. A break of the blue resistance should send this flying. Not there yet,” trader, analyst and podcast host Scott Melker added about the LTC/USD pair.

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Walmart Is Ready for Begin Metaverse Plans

By
Stanislav Shishkin
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0
Walmart Is Ready for Begin Metaverse Plans

American multinational retailer Walmart might have been making silent moves about the metaverse, but as new CNBC report suggests, the company is also looking to create its own cryptocurrency as well as a collection of nonfungible tokens (NFT)s.

Walmart Files 7 Applications With The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

As part of its efforts towards preparation for the metaverse, the retail company filed several new trademarks in late December that showed its intent to create and sell a range of virtual products including interior decorations for homes, electronics, sporting products, and even personal care products. And now, a separate filing may have just confirmed the company’s plans to also offer its customers, a virtual currency and NFTs as well.

Meanwhile, as confirmed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Walmart has filed no less than 7 separate applications so far. And they were submitted on December 30, 2021.

Major Brands Intensify Metaverse Preparations

Ever since Facebook officially announced its rebranding to Meta, hinting at plans beyond social media, other major brands have been coming out with plans of their own. And now, Walmart might just be the newest brand to board the train heading for the metaverse.

Recall that footwear company, Nike also filed a series of trademark applications in early November.

As if that wasn’t enough, Nike went on to collaborate with Roblox later that month. According to the company, the partnership happened in order to create a virtual world called Nikeland. Later in December, Nike also acquired the virtual sneaker company RTFKT.

And there are also reports that clothing retailers Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Urban Outfitters have all filed trademarks recently, supposedly ahead of opening their virtual store.

NFT Craze Still On?

According to the CNBC report, Walmart will also be launching its own NFT collection. But this doesn’t exactly come as a surprise.

With so many feeling the NFT craze from average investors to celebrities.

Additionally, many big brands and sports clubs have all caught the NFT buzz as a way of getting closer to their customer base while also offering them some rewards in return.

Recall that Adidas NFT debut sold out in December, and so did Under Armour’s.

Cardano Again In The Top-Five Crypto-List

By
Alicia Garcia
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0
Cardano Again In The Top-Five Crypto

After moving sideways for weeks together, Cardano’s native cryptocurrency ADA was back in action over the weekend gaining more than 10% on Sunday, January 16. With this, Cardano seals its place once again in the top-five crypto-list.

As of press time, ADA is trading 9.10% up at a price of $1.47 and a market cap of $49.2 billion. The recent price surge in Cardano comes following strong transaction volumes and just before the Sundae Swap later this week. As per data from Messari, the Cardano blockchain had the second-highest network activity trumping Ethereum.

Another major development is that 70 new smart contracts have been launched on the Cardano blockchain over the last month between December 13 – January 13. After an initial good start post the Alonzo upgrade in September 2021, the launch of smart contracts slowed down on Cardano that also resulted in a negative perception. Explaining the same, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson stated:

“We had to rewrite the software three times; there were major changes in architecture and vendors. There were approaches taken that didn’t work out; there were, of course, delays”.

He further added that delays are the nature of the game for Cardano. One of the major important upgrades to the Cardano network is the launch of Sundae Swap ahead this week on Thursday, January 20.

1. Details of the Cardano Sundau Swap

As said, the launch of the Sundae Swap on the Cardano blockchain will happen later this week as a fully-functional beta decentralized exchange (DEX). Soon after the launch, yield-farming for SUNDAE will begin. The official announcement notes:

Yield farming will be available for at least the first six months of the SundaeSwap DEX, and during this period, LP tokens staked to yield farming contracts in eligible pools can earn additional SUNDAE rewards.

The recent rally could result into sustained price gains ahead this year in 2022.

Banning Bitcoin or branding Ethereum security could be disastrous for Ripple

By
Alicia Garcia
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0
Banning Bitcoin or branding Ethereum security could be disastrous for Ripple

David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer, has stated that banning Bitcoin or proof-of-work algorithm or branding Ethereum security could be “disastrous” for Ripple.

He said so while responding to a theory by Castle Island Ventures’ Nic Carter, where he alleged that Ripple is “lobbying” to strategize the above-mentioned agendas.

In the past, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and former CEO Chris Larsen have both advocated that Bitcoin should move away from PoW due to its environmental impact.

Even while Garlinghouse has agreed that Bitcoin is an “exceptional store of value,” he has argued that,

“One Bitcoin transaction is the equivalent of 75 gallons of gasoline being burned.”

Further explaining that as the price of Bitcoin goes up, so does the energy consumption and the carbon footprint of proof of work continues to scale. On the contrary, Ripple boasts of its sustainability measures and aims to achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2030.

Having said that, both Ripple and Ethereum communities are also constantly pitched against each other.

The so-called animosity started when Ripple filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the SEC, over unfair treatment. It was alleged that the regulator had given a go-ahead to Ethereum, while XRP got held back. Which also gave somewhat a first-mover advantage to Ethereum in the broad crypto space.

The recent judgment in the Ripple vs SEC lawsuit also entails Ethereum and a decision around former director William Hinman’s 2018-speech. In which, he was of the view that Ethereum is not a security as it was sufficiently decentralized.

Now, Ripple has used it as part of its legal strategy to fight the SEC. In the past, the crypto lawyer representing XRP holders, John Deaton, had stated,

“Whether we like it or not, ironically, XRP and ETH are on the same side in the SEC case.”

Which can essentially mean that the CTO is looking at Ripple as a part of thriving crypto-verse. With both Ethereum and Bitcoin.

The BTC Trading Pair is Around 20% Above Miners’ Cost Price

By
Stanislav Shishkin
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0
The BTC Trading Pair is Around 20% Above Miners' Cost Price

Production costs for miners are around $34,000, and together with transaction fees, miners need not worry about another $40,000 support challenge on BTC/USD.

The Bitcoin (BTC) mining business is bigger than ever at current price levels, and new data shows just how unlikely a mass miner sell-off really is.

As noted by popular Twitter account @venturefounder on Jan. 14, even at $42,000, the BTC/USD trading pair is around 20% above miners’ cost price.

Miner capitulation behind “worst” BTC price dips

Despite falling a full $27,000 below all-time highs, BTC is more enticing than ever for miners. Hash rate, an estimate of the total processing power dedicated to mining, reached new all-time highs this week.

Those concerned that a fresh BTC price dip could pressure miners into selling, meanwhile, received fresh assurances via data covering how much BTC/USD should trade at for them to break even.

Referencing the BTC production cost indicator from Charles Edwards, CEO of asset manager Capriole, venturefounder revealed that the breakeven point currently stands at $34,000.

“The worst dumps Bitcoin ever had were due to miners capitulation (December 2018, March 2020), when BTC fell below production costs, it is at risk for miner capitulation,” he added in comments.

“BTC was at risk for miner capitulation at $30k in May. The current production cost is $34k, 20% below current price.”

Bitcoin production cost annotated chart (screenshot). Source: @venturefounder/Twitter

As such, there is no reason for miners to sell thanks to the profitability — as well as future perspective — of their operations.

In a Medium post about his indicator from 2019, Edwards additionally noted that transaction fees awarded to miners give them an additional cushion against spot price incursions below production cost.

“Historically, the electrical cost to produce a Bitcoin has represented a price floor in the Bitcoin market price,” another insight reads.

Mining shrugs off spot price moves this year

As Cointelegraph reported, miners are indeed voting with their wallets as BTC consolidates below $50,000.

Rather than selling, miners en masse have been accumulating BTC more this month and last than during the highs.

This speaks both to a healthy balance sheet and resolve over the future — fears of economic difficulties on the horizon are not currently weighing on the mining sector.

Bitcoin hash rate chart. Source: Blockchain

Going forward, current worst-case scenario estimates among well-known analysts foresee a BTC price floor no lower than $30,000.

DOGE is up 20%, compared to a 3% rise in BTC

By
Stanislav Shishkin
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0
DOGE is up 20%, compared to a 3% rise in BTC

Bitcoin traded in a tight range this week, which provided some relief to market participants after a volatile start to the year. The cryptocurrency was roughly flat over the past 24 hours and up about 3% over the past week, compared to a 5% gain in ether.

Some traders and analysts remain cautious despite the brief price bounce off $40,000 earlier this week.

“Price swings are all happening on wafer-thin volumes, which can amplify price movements,” Q9 Capital, a Hong Kong-based crypto investing platform, wrote in a briefing on Friday. “No fresh capital is coming in and nobody is willing to sell or buy,” Q9 wrote.

“Attempts earlier in the week to form a rebound are encountering more substantial selling, further indicating seller pressure,” Alex Kuptsikevich, an analyst at FxPro, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.

Kuptsikevich is especially concerned about further declines in ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization after bitcoin. If momentum continues to deteriorate, he anticipates a worst-case scenario of $1,300-$1,700 ETH, which is roughly 50% below current price levels.

Latest prices

●Bitcoin (BTC): $43212, +1.15%

●Ether (ETH): $3308, +1.22%

●S&P 500 daily close: $4663, +0.08%

●Gold: $1816 per troy ounce, −0.29%

●Ten-year Treasury yield daily close: 1.77%

Bitcoin, ether and gold prices are taken at approximately 4pm New York time. Bitcoin is the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX); Ether is the CoinDesk Ether Price Index (ETX); Gold is the COMEX spot price.

But not all corners of the crypto ecosystem are experiencing a slowdown in trading activity.

Non-fungible token (NFT) trading volumes continue to soar. For example, OpenSea, a large NFT marketplace, is on pace to exceed $6 billion in transactions by the end of the month.

And dogecoin (DOGE), the popular dog-themed meme coin, surged almost 14% on Friday after electric-car maker Tesla went live with accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for merchandise. DOGE is up about 20% over the past week.

In observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday in the U.S. on Monday, Market Wrap will return on Tuesday, Jan. 18.

Long-term bitcoin holders unfazed

Some investors are still holding bitcoin for the long term despite the recent sell-off. The chart below shows an increase in the net position change among long-term bitcoin holders this month. Accumulation of BTC around current price levels could be a bullish sign.

The increase in long-term holder positions “gives a positive outlook for bitcoin’s price,” Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at the U.K.-based digital asset broker GlobalBlock, wrote in an email to CoinDesk. Sotiriou expects BTC to rebound to the $45,000-$46,000 price range in the coming days.

Bitcoin long-term holder positioning (Delphi Digital)

Altcoin roundup

  • Short traders on Dogecoin lost $8M: Dogecoin (DOGE) traders lost more than $11.69 million in total to liquidations in Asian morning hours as the meme coin surged 16% in the past 24 hours. The total includes leveraged traders betting on an upside losing another $4 million on margin calls. The figures were much higher than liquidations on bitcoin or ether futures, which usually see the most losses among all cryptocurrencies. The price rally came as electric-car maker Tesla went live with dogecoin payments for merchandise early Friday. Tesla fans can now purchase belt buckles, whistles, chargers and a quad bike using the meme coin on the official store, as reported, according to Saurya Malwa.
  • Fees.Wtf’s low liquidity in initial minutes made users lose $135K after an airdrop: Ethereum blockchain data shows a user lost over $135,000 worth of ether trying to purchase Fees.wtf tokens (WTF) soon after an airdrop on Thursday night. The slippage was caused due to low liquidity in the trading pool, causing some in crypto circles to criticize how Fees.wtf developers funded the initial pool, according to Saurya Malwa.
  • Crypto options’ impact on the spot market: While a correlation between equities and crypto has become more apparent during the last year, Singapore’s QCP wrote traders buying large amounts of downside risk reversals (where a trader buys the put and sells the call) are now switching positions to take profit (where they sell the put and buy the call), potentially influencing the spot market, according to Sam Reynolds.

Rio Mayor: 1% of City Reserves Allocation In Bitcoin

By
Alicia Garcia
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0
Rio Mayor: 1% of City Reserves Allocation In Bitcoin

Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes talked about Bitcoin with Miami mayor and BTC bull Francis Suarez at Rio Innovation Week.

Eduardo Paes, mayor of Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro, wants to allocate 1% of the city’s treasury into Bitcoin (BTC).

Paes reportedly announced plans for “Crypto Rio,” or turning the city into a cryptocurrency hub during Rio Innovation Week on Thursday, according to a report by local news agency O Globo.

The mayor spoke about Rio’s cryptocurrency-related ambitions in a panel with Miami mayor and Bitcoin bull Francis Suarez, who started accepting his paychecks in BTC in November 2021.

“We are going to launch Crypto Rio and invest 1% of the treasury in cryptocurrency. The government has a role to play,” Paes reportedly said, adding that the state is also planning to introduce tax exemptions for the industry.

The panel also included major Brazilian officials like city finance secretary Pedro Paulo, who noted that the administration is considering a 10% discount on property tax in Brazil on payments with Bitcoin. “Let’s study the legal framework to do this,” he said.

The news comes as the Brazilian government increasingly warms its stance on Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry, with federal deputy Luizão Goulart proposing a bill to legalize crypto as a payment method for public and private sector workers in November. In December, MercadoPago, a major crypto payment firm in Brazil, enabled Brazilian residents to buy, sell and hold major cryptocurrencies like BTC and Ether (ETH).

Solana: Visa of the Digital Asset Ecosystem

By
Stanislav Shishkin
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0
Solana: Visa of the Digital Asset Ecosystem

The Bank of America strategist stated that Solana is set to take a slice of Ethereum’s market share, due to its advantages of low transaction fees, scalability and ease of use.

Bank of America digital asset strategist Alkesh Shah has predicted that Ethereum competitor Solana could become the “Visa of the digital asset ecosystem” in a Jan 11 research note.

The Solana network launched in 2020, and has since grown into the fifth largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $47 billion. An order of magnitude faster than Ethereum, it has been used to settle over 50 billion transactions and mint over 5.7 million non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Critics however argue its speed comes at the cost of decentralization and reliability but Shah thinks the benefits outweigh the drawbacks:

“Its ability to provide high throughput, low cost and ease of use creates a blockchain optimized for consumer use cases like micropayments, DeFi, NFTs, decentralized networks (Web3) and gaming.”

He went on to suggest that Solana is taking a slice of Ethereum’s market share due to its low fees, ease of use, and scalability while Ethereum may be relegated to “high-value transaction and identity, storage and supply chain use cases,” wrote Shah, as quoted by Business Insider

“Ethereum prioritizes decentralization and security, but at the expense of scalability, which has led to periods of network congestion and transaction fees that are occasionally larger than the value of the transaction being sent.”

Visa processes an average of 1,700 transactions per second (TPS), but the network can theoretically handle at least 24,000 TPS. Ethereum currently handles around 12 TPS on mainnet (more on layer twos), while Solana boasts a theoretical limit of 65,000 TPS.

Shah concedes that, “Solana prioritizes scalability, but a relatively less decentralized and secure blockchain has tradeoffs, illustrated by several network performance issues since inception.”

Solana has experienced more than its fair share of network performance issues over the past months, such as withdrawal issues most recently confirmed by Binance on Jan 12, reports of delayed performance across social media on Jan 7 and what appeared to be a DDos attack on Jan 5, although Solana denied this was the case.

This came less than a month after a previous attack on Dec 10, with reports of network congestion caused by mass botting associated with an initial Dec offering (IDO) on Solana-based decentralized exchange platform, Raydium.

In an interview with Cointelegraph on Dec. 22, Austin Federa, head of communications at Solana Labs, said that developers are currently working to address the network’s issues, specifically in relation to improving transaction metering.

“Solana’s runtime is a new design. It doesn’t use EVM [Ethereum Virtual Machine] and a ton of innovation was done to ensure that users have the cheapest fees possible, but there’s still work to be done on the runtime.”

Seba Bank CEO Prediction for Bitcoin Price: $75K In 2022

By
Stanislav Shishkin
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0
Seba Bank CEO Prediction for Bitcoin Price: $75K In 2022

Bitcoin price is expected to double to $75,000 in 2022. On Wednesday, at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, SEBA Bank CEO – Guido Buehler told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal, “We are in the opinion that the price is going up.” He further added, “this all-time high is due to more institutional investors adopting the world’s most popular cryptocurrency.”

“Our internal price models stipulate a price right now between $50,000 and $75,000,” said the Swiss bank’s manager. He added, “I am highly confident of seeing that level super soon. All depends on the right timing.” 

In November 2021, bitcoin was winged to an all-time high of $69,000. BTC witnessed a value drop over the last couple of months and its price collapsed below $40,000 on Monday. The drop-down indicated the price fluttering a low not seen since September.

Asked if the most popular cryptocurrency – BTC will test the record levels like 2021, SEBA Bank CEO, Guido Buehler claimed, “I think so, it will. But I’m worried about whether or not bitcoin’s volatility will remain high.”

The price collapse seen this week came as an emerging Treasury returns. The likelihood of higher central bank interest rates emphasized investors to outbuild positions in risky & growth-oriented possessions.

“Bitcoin fell approximately 6% Monday touching a low of $39,771.91,” reports Coin Metrics. BTC traded at $42,921.55 at around 5 a.m. ET on Wednesday. 

Institutional Investors

  Buehler said, “I think institutional investors will assuage in hefting the price of bitcoin in 2022.” He added, “Institutional money is expected to navigate the price up. We’re functioning like a fully regulated bank. We also possess asset pools. All we’re waiting for is the right time to invest.”

Ripple and SEC lock horns over fair notice defense

By
Stanislav Shishkin
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0
Ripple

The silence that had befallen upon the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission vs. Ripple Labs lawsuit broke last week, as the new year brought along with it new litigation for the case. In its latest filing, the San Fransisco-based blockchain company has now responded to the SEC’s newest attempt to strike down Ripple’s Fair Notice Defense.

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1. Blows exchanged

The defendant also argued that the North Illinois-based Fife case was from a different legal circuit and was thus not legally binding to the New York district court hearing this case.

One of the defenses raised by Ripple Labs since it was sued by the SEC in December 2020 was a “fair notice affirmative defense.” Through this, the company has argued that it was not given adequate notice that their sale of XRP tokens was in violation of the law. The SEC in turn has continually attacked Ripple’s defense by using supplementary arguments such as this.

In another tweet earlier this week, Filan had noted that while it may look quiet on the front, “the parties have a lot of work to do based on recent decisions on discovery disputes.” These include the production of relevant Slack messages by Ripple along with internal documents regarding the case by the SEC.

Moreover, after many delays and cross litigation filed throughout the factual discovery phase, the deadline for expert discovery is also looming on 14 January, which included the deposition of numerous expert witnesses. This included people who have special knowledge or expertise regarding the matter and are allowed to give their opinion on the same.

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