Decentral Block Post

Bitcoin (BTC) shows the potential of stretching its ongoing price recovery to $25,000 by March, based on a mix of bullish technical and macro indicators.

Bitcoin price exits descending channel range

First, Bitcoin's potential to hit $25,000 comes from its exit from a prevailing descending channel range.

Notably, the BTC price broke out of the range late last week while accompanying a rise in its trading volumes. The cryptocurrency's move upside also pushed the price above its resistance confluence, comprising a psychological price ceiling of $20,000 and its 20-week exponential moving average (20-week EMA; the green wave) near $19,500, as shown below. 

Breaking three resistance levels with strong volumes shows traders' conviction about an extended price rally. Should it happen, Bitcoin's next upside target appears at its 200-week EMA (the yellow wave) at around $25,000 — a 20% rise from current price levels.

Dollar forms a "death cross"

Bitcoin's bullish technical outlook appears against the backdrop of a relatively weaker U.S. dollar, down due to expectations that the Federal Reserve will stop raising interest rates over lowering inflation.

The Central Bank of Iran is reportedly cooperating with the Russian government to jointly issue a new cryptocurrency backed by gold.

Iran is working with Russia to create a “token of the Persian Gulf region” that would serve as a payment method in foreign trade, Russia’s news agency Vedomosti reported on Jan. 15.

The token is projected to be issued in the form of a stablecoin backed by gold, according to Alexander Brazhnikov, executive director of the Russian Association of Crypto Industry and Blockchain (RACIB).

The stablecoin aims to enable cross-border transactions instead of fiat currencies like the United States’ dollar, the Russian ruble or the Iranian rial. The potential cryptocurrency would operate in a special economic zone in Astrakhan, where Russia started to accept Iranian cargo shipments, the report notes.

Russian lawmaker Anton Tkachev, a member of the Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, stressed that a joint stablecoin project would only be possible once the digital asset market is fully regulated in Russia. After multiple delays, the Russian lower house of parliament once again promised to start regulating crypto transactions in 2023.

The developers of the dog-themed token Shiba Inu (SHIB) posted an update to inform its community about its upcoming beta release of Shibarium, a layer-2 network that will run on top of the Ethereum mainnet. 

In an announcement, SHIB developers shared information about layer-2 blockchains and highlighted that Shibarium is being built to provide a tool to allow the community to build and grow the project and fulfill its founder’s vision. While some believe that the creation of Shibarium is a way to increase the meme token’s price, the developers noted that this wasn’t the goal. They wrote:

“Patience is key, and some see Shibarium as a price-pumping tool, but that is not the project's focus and never has been.”

Instead, the developers mentioned that the goal of the new update in its infrastructure is to "revolutionize the Shiba ecosystem" by removing barriers to entry for small transactions, upgrading the speed, allowing the development of decentralized applications and integrating nonfungible tokens.

A key update in the new announcement is one of the most-requested features for the project, which is a burning mechanism for SHIB. According to the developers, "all transactions on the network will have an implicit burn amount for $SHIB token." This mechanism will occur whenever a transaction is made within the network. 

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week at new 2023 highs, but still divides opinion after a blistering price rally.

In what is shaping up to be the antidote to last year’s slow bleed to lower prices, January has delivered the volatility Bitcoin bulls were hoping for — but can they sustain it?

This is the key question for market participants going into the third week of the month.

Opinion remains divided on Bitcoin’s fundamental strength; some believe outright that the march to two-month highs is a “sucker’s rally,” while others are hoping that the good times will continue — at least for the time being.

Beyond market dynamics, there is no shortage of potential catalysts waiting to assert themselves on sentiment.

SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci is investing in a crypto company founded by the former president of FTX US.

According to an email to Bloomberg, Scaramucci said he would be investing his own personal funds to support ex-FTX US president Brett Harrison’s new venture, which became known just three weeks after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

It is understood that the crypto software company — which doesn’t yet have a name — will enable crypto traders to create algorithmic-based strategies to access different markets — both centralized and decentralized.

It is also understood that Harrison has been seeking a fundraising target as high as $10 million for a $100 million valuation.

In a Jan. 14 tweet responding to Harrison's lengthy thread on Sam Bankman-Fried and his time at FTX U, Scaramucci said he was “proud” to be an investor in Harrison’s new company.

The cryptocurrency markets have made a strong comeback in the past few days. That drove the total crypto market capitalization to $995 billion on Jan. 14, according to CoinMarketCap data. Bitcoin (BTC) led the recovery from the front and skyrocketed above $21,000 on Jan. 14.

After the sharp rally, the big question is whether the recovery is a dead cat bounce that is a selling opportunity, or is it the start of a new uptrend. It is difficult to predict with certainty if a macro bottom has been made but the charts suggest that a bottoming process has begun.

Independent market analyst HornHairs highlighted that the 2017 to 2018 bear market lasted for 364 days and from 2021 to the current market low, the duration is again 364 days. Another interesting similarity is that the 2015 to 2017 bull market and the 2018 to 2021 bull phase both lasted for 1,064 days. If history repeats itself, then Bitcoin may make the next top in roughly 1,000 days.

Bitcoin's short term price action has been exciting for bulls but are there altcoins that are showing similar strength in the near term?

Let’s study the charts to find out.

The cryptocurrency markets have made a strong comeback in the past few days. That drove the total crypto market capitalization to $995 billion on Jan. 14, according to CoinMarketCap data. Bitcoin (BTC) led the recovery from the front, skyrocketing above $21,000 on Jan. 14.

After the sharp rally, the big question is whether the recovery is a dead cat bounce that is a selling opportunity, or the start of a new uptrend. It is difficult to predict with certainty if a macro bottom has been made but the charts suggest that a bottoming process has begun.

Independent market analyst HornHairs highlighted that the 2017 to 2018 bear market lasted for 364 days and that from 2021 to the current market low, the duration is again 364 days. Another interesting similarity is that the 2015 to 2017 bull market and the 2018 to 2021 bull phase both lasted for 1,064 days. If history repeats itself, then Bitcoin may make the next top in roughly 1,000 days.

Bitcoin’s short-term price action has been exciting for bulls but are there altcoins that are showing similar strength in the near term?

Let’s study the charts to find out.