Decentralized finance meets its traditional counterpart at Davos, with a growing cross-pollination between the two.
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Bitcoin will hit $200K before $70K ‘bear market’ next cycle — Forecast
Bitcoin (BTC) has “well-formed” evidence, which suggests that its next all-time high will top out at $200,000, one analyst says.
In a tweet on Jan. 27, popular Twitter commentator Trader Tardigrade, also known as Alan, also revealed $70,000 as the next potential bear market bottom.
Stochastic indicator offers Bitcoin bulls historical firepower
For many, BTC price action is still bound by Bitcoin’s four-year halving cycles. The resulting price pattern offers one “all time high year” in every four, with 2025 next in line.
Bitcoin’s block subsidy halving will occur a year prior, and from then on, Alan argues, the path will be open to a giant $200,000.
That price tag came about from an analysis of Bitcoin’s stochastic oscillator, which syncs with cycle highs and lows in BTC/USD. Currently, the indicator is printing its latest trough, and if history is a guide, price behavior will do likewise.
The state of Solana: will the layer-1 protocol rise again in 2023?
Despite the latest FTX-related crisis, Solana still has what it takes to win the layer-1 race, according to the head of strategy at the Solana Foundation, Austin Federa.
Litecoin ‘head fake’ rally? LTC price technicals hint at 65% crash
Litecoin (LTC) has rebounded by 130% to almost $100 after bottoming out near $40.50 in June 2022. The primary reasons include broadly improving risk-on sentiment and euphoria around Litecoin’s upcoming halving in August 2023.
However, technicals suggest that LTC may wipe out most of these gains in the coming months.
LTC price paints giant bear flag
Litecoin stands to pare its gains mainly due to a giant bear flag on the weekly chart.
A “bear flag” is a bearish continuation pattern that occurs when the price consolidates inside an ascending, parallel channel after undergoing a strong downtrend. It resolves after the price breaks below its lower trendline with a rise in trading volumes.
Litecoin has been painting a similar pattern since early June 2022. Previously, the LTC/USD pair had undergone a 70% price correction from $130 to $40.50. Thus, from the technical perspective, it would resume its downtrend course if its price breaks below the lower trendline.
Here's how the World Economic Forum leaps into the metaverse —Davos 2023
Industry insiders highlight World Economic Forum workshops on the metaverse focusing on user privacy, asset protection and regulation.
Creating self-sovereignty in the creator economy and Web3 — Is there room for both?
NFT Steez sits down with Web3 advocate Julie Plavnik to discuss the concepts of self-sovereignty and digital identity in Web3-based creator economies.
What is an ascending triangle pattern and how to trade it?
Market analysts rely on many technical indicators to anticipate future trends, one of which is the very-popular ascending triangle chart pattern.
What is an ascending triangle pattern?
As the name indicates, an ascending triangle on a chart forms when the price consolidates between a rising trendline support and a horizontal trendline resistance.
The pattern typically appears during persistent uptrends or downtrends. Most technical analysts see it as a “continuation pattern,” meaning the general market trend is likely to resume.
BTC/USD three-day price chart featuring ascending triangle breakout. Source: TradingViewFor example, the Bitcoin (BTC) price chart above shows the BTC/USD trading pair forming an ascending triangle pattern between April 2020 and July 2020.
The BTC price breaks out of the triangle range in late July to the upside. It returns to retest the pattern’s resistance trendline as support in September for further bullish confirmation, resuming its uptrend.
US securities regulator probes Wall Street over crypto custody: Report
The regulator has been probing registered investment advisors over how they've been offering crypto custody to their clients, according to sources.
UK's FCA hints at why its given only 15% of crypto firms the regulatory nod
The UK financial watchdog has received 300 crypto firm registration applications but has approved only 41 applicants.
Bithumb in turmoil, Binance’s 47K law requests, Axie players down 85%: Asia Express
Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Bithumb in turmoil On Jan. 25, Yonhap Infomax reported that South Korean authorities had requested an arrest warrant for Kang Jong-Hyun, chairman and owner of cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, over embezzlement allegations. That same day, the Financial Investigation Second Division of the […]
Bithumb in turmoil, Binance’s 47K law requests, Axie players down 85%: Asia Express
Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments.
Bithumb in turmoil
On Jan. 25, Yonhap Infomax reported that South Korean authorities had requested an arrest warrant for Kang Jong-Hyun, chairman and owner of cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, over embezzlement allegations. That same day, the Financial Investigation Second Division of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office accused Jong-Hyun and two Bithumb executives of embezzlement, conducting fraudulent transactions and breach of trust.
A leaked photo of Bithumb chairman Kang Jong-Hyun. Source: Korea Post EnglishAuthorities said that Kang played a key role in manipulating the stock prices of Bithumb affiliates Inbiogen and Bucket Studio through the issuance of convertible bonds.
Bithumb is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. Its previous chairman, Lee Jung-Hoon, was found not guilty last month of a $70 million fraud charge related to his activities at Bithumb. Park Mo, Bithumb’s former largest shareholder, died on Dec. 30 while under investigation for allegedly embezzling funds from Bithumb and related companies. The firm is also currently probed by the National Tax Service over tax compliance incidents.
Binance’s 2022 annual report
In its annual report released on Jan. 19, cryptocurrency exchange Binance revealed that the firm received more than 47,000 law enforcement inquiries throughout the year. The exchange said such requests were processed “at a record time” and that it was the first among blockchain firms to join the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance, a nonprofit cybercrime fighting unit based in Pittsburg.
Data shows pro Bitcoin traders want to feel bullish, but the rally to $23K wasn’t enough
Bitcoin (BTC) price had a mixed reaction on Jan. 25 after the United States reported a 2.9% gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter, slightly better than expected. Still, the sum of all goods and services commercialized between October and December grew less than 3.2% from the previous quarter.
Albeit somewhat optimistic, another data set limiting investors' confidence was news that the U.S. Federal Reserve (FED) would revert its contractive measures anytime soon as U.S. durable goods orders jumped 5.6% in December. The indicator came in much higher than anticipated, so it could potentially mean that interest rates could be increased for a little longer than expected.
Oil prices are also still a focus for investors, with crude WTI approaching its highest level since mid-September, currently trading at $81.50. The underlying reason is the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict after the U.S. and Germany decided on Dec. 25 to send battle tanks to Ukraine.
The United States dollar index (DXY), a measure of the dollar's strength against a basket of top foreign currencies, sustained 102, near its lowest levels in eight months. This signals low confidence in the U.S. Federal Reserve's ability to curb inflation without causing a significant recession.
Regulatory uncertainty could also have been vital in limiting Bitcoin's upside. De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central Bank, fined cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase $3.6 million due to non-compliance with local regulations for financial service providers — the news was released on Jan. 26.
Here’s why Bitcoin price could correct after the US government resolves the debt limit impasse
For much of 2022, the crypto market focused on the United States Federal Reserve’s actions. The central bank created a bearish environment for risk-on assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies by increasing the interest rates on borrowing.
Toward the end of 2022, positive economic data, healthy employment numbers and a decreasing inflation rate provided hope that a much-awaited slowdown in the rate of interest rate hikes would occur. Currently, the market expects that rate hikes will reduce from 50 basis points (bps) to 25 bps before the complete end of the hiking regime by mid-2023.
From the perspective of the Fed’s goal of constraining liquidity and providing headwinds to an overheated economy and stock market, things are starting to improve. It appears that the Fed’s plan of a soft-landing by quantitative tightening to curb inflation without throwing the economy into a deep recession might be working. The recent rally in stock markets and Bitcoin can be attributed to the market's trust in the above narrative.
However, another essential American agency, the U.S. Treasury, poses significant risks to the global economy. While the Fed has been draining liquidity from the markets, the Treasury provided a countermeasure by draining its cash balance and negating some of the Fed's efforts. This situation may be coming to an end.
It invokes risks of constrained liquidity conditions with the possibility of an adverse economic shock. For this reason, analysts warn that the second half of 2023 may see excess volatility.
Binance stablecoin BUSD sees a sharp market cap drop amid solvency and mismanagement worries
Persistent worries about Binance’s solvency, increased regulation of the crypto sector and questionable use cases are chipping away at BUSD’s market capitalization.
Binance stablecoin BUSD sees a sharp market cap drop amid solvency and mismanagement worries
Stablecoins in the cryptocurrency market help provide U.S. dollar-pegged tokens within the volatile industry. In bull markets, the market capitalization of stablecoins tends to decrease as investors flock to more volatile assets; and in bear markets, investors seek shelter in low-volatility stablecoins, thus increasing their market caps.
On Jan. 26, the total market capitalization for stablecoins like Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD) and Dai (DAI) is over $131 billion.
Stablecoin supply dominance. Source: GlassnodeStablecoins are so crucial to the future of crypto that Moody’s, a well-respected analytics agency, is planning to develop a scoring system, which may help reduce the speculation and fear that some investors have with stablecoins.
Such fear amid a lack of stablecoin transparency has led one of the top stablecoins, BUSD, to see a major usage decline in recent weeks.
Let’s examine the factors affecting the BUSD stablecoin.
Porsche NFT trading volume nears $5M despite launch woes, minting halt
Developers of the nonfungible tokens had halted minting on Jan. 25 in response to user complaints.
Aave purchases 2.7M CRV to clear bad debt following failed Eisenberg attack
Following a failed short attack, DeFi exploiter Avraham Eisenberg was liquidated from Aave at a loss of $10 million.
US Justice Department seizes website of prolific ransomware gang Hive
The group is known to have targeted critical infrastructure and healthcare providers, extorting $100 million from victims worldwide.
Bitcoin can still crack $50K if gold correlation continues — Chart
Bitcoin (BTC) could get sucked toward $50,000 like a magnet if it continues to follow gold, fresh analysis predicts.
In a Twitter update on Jan. 26, popular trader and market commentator TechDev presented a lofty new BTC price target tied to XAU/USD.
Gold, Bitcoin inverse dollar correlation “without question”
As the debate over how much Bitcoin will compete with gold remains, bullish-price takes are surfacing.
For TechDev, the outlook is more optimistic than for many — Bitcoin might even crack the $50,000 mark.
“What if Bitcoin continues to follow Gold / DXY ?” he queried.
The legal dangers of getting involved with DAOs
Buying DAO tokens? That’s no longer risk-free: Courts might consider you a partner in the business and judge you liable for millions in hacked funds. Another legal trap may be found simply working for a DAO — and implementing community decisions that turn out to be illegal in some far-flung jurisdiction.
With many DAO communities waking up to the reality that they need some sort of legal structure or “legal personality” in order to act in the real world, solutions from mimicking corporate structures to anonymously run foundations are being floated by lawyers around the world.
Nothing in this article should be construed as legal advice — and not just because the law isn’t clear about any of it.
Code is law?
In 2021, Magazine interviewed Griff Green, whose heroic actions to thwart The DAO hack on the morning of June 17, 2016, helped save a good proportion of the 14% of Ether in existence at the time. By identifying how the exploit worked, his team of hackers worked to “steal” faster than the malicious actor, thus limiting the amount taken by the individual who discovered the error in The DAO’s code. But who did this ETH belong to?
Did it belong to the 11,000 investors who had contributed Ether toward the project in the previous month? If so, what claim did they have, considering that these “investors” had handed their money to an organization without leaders or jurisdiction, governed entirely by smart contracts that operated according to the votes of investors?
