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$1.48B in Bitcoin options expire on Friday — Will BTC hold $22K?

BTC price has started to correct, and with $1.48 billion in Bitcoin options expiring on Jan. 27, traders are watching to see if the price holds above $22,000.

$1.48B in Bitcoin options expire on Friday — Will BTC hold $22K?

Bitcoin investors' sentiment improved after signals pointing to lower inflationary pressure suggested that the U.S. Federal Reserve could soon move away from its interest rate increase and quantitative tightening. Commonly known as a pivot, the trend change would benefit risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.

On Jan. 22, the China-based peer-to-peer trades of USD Coin (USDC) reached a 3.5% premium versus the United States dollar, indicating moderate FOMO by retail traders. This level is the highest in more than 6 months, suggesting excessive cryptocurrency buying demand has pressured the indicator above fair value.

The all-time high on the 7-day Bitcoin hash rate — an estimate of processing power dedicated to mining — also supported the bullish momentum. The indicator peaked at 276.9 exo-hash per second (EH/s) on Jan. 19, signaling a reversion of the recent weakness caused by miners facing financial difficulties.

Despite the bears' best efforts, Bitcoin has been trading above $20,000 since Jan. 14 — a movement that explains why the $1.48 billion Bitcoin monthly options expiry will vastly benefit bulls despite the recent failure to break the $23,200 resistance.

Bulls were too optimistic, but remain well positioned

Bitcoin's latest rally on Jan. 20 caught bears by surprise, as a mere 6% of the put (sell) options for the monthly expiry have been placed above $22,000. Thus, bulls are better positioned even though they set nearly 40% of their call (buy) options at $23,000 or higher.

Judge denies motions from Celsius users seeking to reclaim assets

Two claimants called out former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky in motions, claiming he misled users, while all suggested that the platform's terms of use left assets in their control.

Venture capital investments into blockchain continue to free-fall: Report

Q4 2022 saw investment capital inflows of $2.3 billion, continuing the trend since April sparked by the collapse of Terra and subsequent fallout.

Nifty Gateway co-founders resign amid Gemini woes

Nifty Gateway was founded in 2018 and acquired by Gemini in 2019.

Bitcoin due shake-up vs. gold, stocks as BTC price dips under $22.5K

Bitcoin is still in line for a breakout, analysis concludes, as short-term weakness sees BTC price fall below $22,500.

Bitcoin due shake-up vs. gold, stocks as BTC price dips under $22.5K

Bitcoin (BTC) saw weakness at the Jan. 25 Wall Street open as United States equities fell in step. 

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

BTC price faces stiff resistance

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD heading below $22,500 after failing to crack resistance near five-month highs.

U.S. stocks saw a weak start to the session, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index down 1.1% and 1.6%, respectively at the time of writing.

Bitcoin bulls had themselves faced trouble attempting to push into an area of liquidity above $23,400, this so far remaining unchallenged and home to a significant number of would-be short liquidations.

Traders remained on the fence, hoping that a clearer trading signal would come after several days of essentially sideways price action.

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Film review: ‘Human B’ shows a personal journey with Bitcoin

A review of a predominantly German-language film that challenges the misconceptions and misunderstandings surrounding Bitcoin.

NFT creator: Amber Vittoria crushes it in her ‘Big Girl Pants’

Artist name: Amber Vittoria
Location: Los Angeles
Date minted first NFT: March 1, 2021
Which blockchains? Ethereum, Tezos

Bio:

Before she even turned 30, Amber Vittoria had made a significant splash in the traditional art world with gigs with Gucci, Google, Adidas, Victoria’s Secret, Apple, L’Oréal Paris, Meta, Snapchat, VaynerMedia and The New York Times,

Hailing from New York City but now living in Los Angeles, Vittoria studied graphic design at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.

Amber Vittoria Source: Supplied

“I think I always knew I wanted to be a fine artist and work for myself at one point but knew that graphic design would help me get there,” she says. 

Vittoria is also the author of a recent book about poetry, painting and womanhood called These Are My Big Girl Pants, and her various creative talents saw her cited on Forbes 30 Under 30 — Art & Style in 2020. 

Amber Vittoria

NFT creator: Amber Vittoria crushes it in her ‘Big Girl Pants’

Artist name: Amber Vittoria
Location: Los Angeles
Date minted first NFT: March 1, 2021
Which blockchains? Ethereum, Tezos

Bio:

Before she even turned 30, Amber Vittoria had made a significant splash in the traditional art world with gigs with Gucci, Google, Adidas, Victoria’s Secret, Apple, L’Oréal Paris, Meta, Snapchat, VaynerMedia and The New York Times,

Hailing from New York City but now living in Los Angeles, Vittoria studied graphic design at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.

Amber Vittoria Source: Supplied

“I think I always knew I wanted to be a fine artist and work for myself at one point but knew that graphic design would help me get there,” she says. 

Vittoria is also the author of a recent book about poetry, painting and womanhood called These Are My Big Girl Pants, and her various creative talents saw her cited on Forbes 30 Under 30 — Art & Style in 2020. 

Amber Vittoria

NFT creator: Amber Vittoria crushes it in her ‘Big Girl Pants’

Artist name: Amber Vittoria
Location: Los Angeles
Date minted first NFT: March 1, 2021
Which blockchains? Ethereum, Tezos

Bio:

Before she even turned 30, Amber Vittoria had made a significant splash in the traditional art world with gigs with Gucci, Google, Adidas, Victoria’s Secret, Apple, L’Oréal Paris, Meta, Snapchat, VaynerMedia and The New York Times,

Hailing from New York City but now living in Los Angeles, Vittoria studied graphic design at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.

Amber Vittoria Source: Supplied

“I think I always knew I wanted to be a fine artist and work for myself at one point but knew that graphic design would help me get there,” she says. 

Vittoria is also the author of a recent book about poetry, painting and womanhood called These Are My Big Girl Pants, and her various creative talents saw her cited on Forbes 30 Under 30 — Art & Style in 2020. 

Amber Vittoria

UK Bitcoin community reacts to incoming CBDC and digital pound rollout

A new role, "Head of CBDC," will help the United Kingdom to "explore the case for a digital pound," although UK Bitcoiners would argue that might not be necessary.

Ripple, Binance impersonators target XRP holders via fake staking program

Online fraudsters are impersonating major cryptocurrency firms like Ripple and Binance by creating fake websites and email imposters pretending to provide staking services for XRP.

One such website, ripple.com-staking.tech, includes a blog post titled “XRP staking set to debut January 2023 for retail users,” inviting users to “stake” their XRP with unrealistic returns on investment (ROI), ranging from 12% to 27%. The fake scheme attempts to rush XRP investors’ decision by stating that only the first 10,000 accounts will receive a higher ROI.

The fake website provides a well-crafted clone of Ripple’s website, ripple.com, by copying the original layout, and fonts and linking some of its previous blog posts. The impersonators also attempted to add more credibility to their posts by adding information about the importance of self-custody using major hardware wallets like Ledger or Trezor.

The scam website has a lot of mirror domains like ripple.org.th or ripple.com.ve, targeting XRP users from all over the world.

The cryptocurrency community has raised flags about a new scam scheme targeting XRP (XRP) investors through a fake staking program.

Bitcoin faces 'considerable danger' from Fed in 2023 — Lyn Alden

It is not all plain sailing when it comes to Bitcoin's price recovery this year, with U.S. liquidity conditions calling the shots.

Bitcoin faces ‘considerable danger’ from Fed in 2023 — Lyn Alden

Bitcoin (BTC) still risks “considerable danger” in 2023 as macroeconomic conditions dictate price action.

That is according to economist Lyn Alden, who, in private comments to Cointelegraph, cautioned on Bitcoin staying bullish after its January gains.

Alden: BTC price bottom is a “process”

Optimism is increasing throughout crypto as BTC/USD broadly retains levels, which are 40% higher than at the start of the year.

What the rest of 2023 may hold, however, is still a topic of debate, and Alden suggests that it is naive to assume that the good times will continue unchecked.

The reason, she says, lies with the United States lawmakers and the Federal Reserve.

Bitcoin mining brings more than money to this East African country

A Bitcoin mining project in a remote corner of Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa, connects more families to the grid while delivering economic empowerment to an impoverished region.

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