Decentral Block Post

Ether has been on a downward trend, with the $2,000 level forming a crucial resistance level in recent months.

While Bitcoin (BTC) recorded 11.94% gains, moving past $30,000 in June after BlackRock filed an application for an exchange-traded fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States, the upside in Ether (ETH) stayed around 3.16%.

In the first week of July, buyers attempted to move the price past crucial resistance at around $1,900. However, a failed breakout exposed the price to further correction.

The Ethereum network also witnessed a decline in activity, evident in the one-year-low levels in total transaction fees. The price of leading nonfungible token (NFT) collections on Ethereum plummeted, while decentralized finance (DeFi) activity stalled due to low yields.

However, the downside may be limited, as the demand for liquid staking derivatives (LSDs) like Lido’s stETH continues to grow, rising faster than investors are moving to sell.

Bitcoin is still struggling to stay above $31,000.

While a tight consolidation near the overhead resistance is a positive sign, the failure to rise above it may result in short-term liquidations. However, a shallow pullback should not be considered a trend change because, many times, the bulls take a step back to regroup and launch another attack at the resistance. If the barrier is overcome, the positive momentum picks up.

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said in an “ask me anything” session on Twitter that Bitcoin (BTC) could witness a bull year after its halving in 2024. CZ added that BlackRock’s foray into cryptocurrencies will be “hugely beneficial” for the industry.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink made positive comments about Bitcoin while speaking in an interview with Fox Business on July 5. Fink said that Bitcoin was an “international asset not based on any one currency,” and investors could use it as a hedge against inflation or currency devaluation.

Could positive comments from Fink act as a floor during pullbacks? What are the important overhead resistance levels in Bitcoin and altcoins that need to be crossed to signal the start of a short-term up move? Let’s study the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

On today’s Macro Markets show, veteran stock market and Cointelegraph analyst Marcel Pechman starts by analyzing Argentina’s 150% inflation, which proves that people continue to work and consume (somehow) even if their local currency loses its value.

What is the lesson here? For starters, everyone wants free money. That explains why altcoins and airdrops continue to attract attention, regardless of whether the majority of investors end up being unprofitable.

You might think that those investors would quickly learn their lesson, but in reality, quite the opposite occurs. All it takes is a new marketing strategy — a new way of promising free money — just like the Argentines have a tendency to forget the mess the governments have caused over the course of 10 years.

For Pechman, the bottom line is: Forget any promise of free money or dividends that don’t come explicitly from economic activity.

The show’s next segment covers the topic most loved by economists: the inverted yield curve. This event happens when shorter-dated Treasurys have higher returns than longer-term ones, suggesting the United States Federal Reserve will hurt the economy.

Bitcoin (BTC) will be the currency of artificial intelligence (AI) and could reach a price per coin of $760,000 in the process, Arthur Hayes says.

In his latest essay titled “Massa,” the former BitMEX CEO concluded that the AI revolution would naturally gravitate toward BTC.

Hayes: Bitcoin is "logical currency choice for AI"

Despite fiat currency regimes being destined to become evermore dysfunctional in future, Hayes says, there is one burgeoning economic sector which will only go from strength to strength: AI.

While still nascent in 2023, the coming decades will see an explosion of AI-related implementations which will make it ubiquitous and unavoidable.

“Recent advancements in computing power have brought us to the cusp of a hockey stick moment, in which AI will go viral and change the course of humanity virtually overnight,” he wrote.