Decentral Block Post

The implications of what anti-crypto regulations can do to a thriving economy can be seen first-hand unfolding in India. Supporting the massive decline in trading volumes across all Indian crypto exchanges, a report from WazirX reveals a change in investor sentiment as the Indian government imposed its second crypto law — a 1% tax deduction at source (TDS) on every crypto transaction.

Trading volumes on Indian crypto exchanges saw an eventual reduction of 90-95% ever since the country introduced a law that would tax investors 30% on unrealized gains. With two consecutive taxes ready to eat away at their holdings, most Indian investors have seemed to have opted for hibernation amid an unforgiving bear market.

Prominent Indian crypto exchanges WazirX and Zebpay surveyed around 9,500 active traders from the region to better understand investor sentiment. Unsurprisingly, the survey revealed that 83% of traders were forced to reduce their trading frequency owing to the TDS deductions.

Another method investors in India avoided paying TDS was by selling their holdings before the taxation was signed into law. Over 27% of the investors, the majority comprised of millennials, ended up selling 50% of their portfolio before April 1 whereas 57% sold under 10%. In this regard, Rajagopal Menon, VP of WazirX stated:

“The survey results stipulate the need to reform certain conditions to aid the growth of crypto investors in the country which will result in economic prosperity. The tax regime needs to be balanced to encourage participation and revive trading volumes.”

Bitcoin (BTC) approached the July 6 Wall Street open near $20,000 as a fresh battle between support and resistance loomed.

Whale levels close by

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD wedged in a tight trading range with liquidity creeping closer to spot on the day.

After recovering 6% losses from the day before, order book data confirmed that support and resistance was now almost shoulder-to-shoulder.

According to on-chain monitoring resource Whalemap, a cluster of whale positions between $20,546 and $21,327 meant that this large area was now the zone to beat.

Buyer interest, meanwhile, stayed at around $19,200, this also formed of whale bids which formed after BTC/USD dipped to multi-year lows of $17,600 in Q2.

A new strain of crypto-malware is being spread via YouTube, tricking users to download software that’s designed to steal data from 30 crypto wallets and crypto-browser extensions.

Cyber intelligence company Cyble in a June 30 blog post said it had been tracking the malware known as “PennyWise” — likely named after the monster in Stephen King's horror novel “It” — since it was first identified in May.

“Our investigation indicates that the stealer is an emerging threat,” wrote Cyble in a blog post on June 30.

“In its current iteration, this stealer can target over 30 browsers and cryptocurrency applications such as cold crypto wallets, crypto-browser extensions, etc.”

Data stolen from the victim's system comes in the form of Chromium and Mozilla browser information, including cryptocurrency extension data and login data. It can also take screenshots and steal sessions of chat applications such as Discord and Telegram.

The cryptocurrency market along with the tech-heavy Nasdaq saw a bit of positive price action on July 5 amid a backdrop of rising recession concerns in the United States. 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that an early morning onslaught by bears managed to drop Bitcoin (BTC) to a daily low of $19,309 before reinforcements arrived to bid the price back above support at $20,400 during the afternoon.

Here’s what several analysts are saying comes next for the top cryptocurrency and what support and resistance levels to keep an eye on moving forward.

Looking for a continuation to $23K

A bullish take on the recent Bitcoin price action was offered by independent analyst Michael van de Poppe, who posted the following chart as a follow-up to a previous Tweet that suggested Bitcoin needed to crack the resistance zone at $19,700 to continue higher:

The analyst said:

Bear markets in cryptocurrency are known to be painful, but the month of June was especially trying for the crypto faithful as a confluence of factors resulted in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) falling 37.9%, its worst monthly performance since 2011.

As a result of the continued widespread weakness, a majority of the so-called Bitcoin “tourists” have now exited the space, leaving only the most dedicated holders remaining, according to blockchain analytics firm Glassnode.

Despite Bitcoin's ongoing struggles and the fact that crypto traders are currently experiencing the worst bear market in the sector's history, several metrics suggest that the outlook isn’t as dire as some are predicting and that the hodler base of the crypto market remains strong.

Dedicated hodlers increase in number

A significant purge of active Bitcoin wallets is a common occurrence during major sell-off events as well as in early bear markets, according to Glassnode. However, the severity of the exodus has been diminishing since the bear market of 2018, indicating that “there is an increasing level of resolve amongst the average Bitcoin participant,” Glassnode said.

During the most recent reduction in the number of addresses with a non-zero balance, only 1% of the Bitcoin addresses purged their holdings entirely as compared to 2.8% between April and May 2021, and the whopping 24% that did the same between January to March of 2018.