Decentral Block Post

The crypto community has poured in an impressive $54 million worth of crypto funds through “Aid For Ukraine," aimed at supporting the country's military efforts against Russia, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister has revealed. 

The $54 million has been funneled in through the Ukrainian government-run initiative 'Aid For Ukraine', according to Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov’s Twitter post on Thursday, who thanked the crypto community for their support:

“Every helmet, bulletproof vest, and night vision device save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. Thus, we must continue to support our defenders. Thanks so much to everyone from the crypto community for supporting Ukraine!”

According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Aid For Ukraine’s $54 million has mostly come in the form of 10,190 Ether (ETH), worth $18.7 million, 595 Bitcoin (BTC), worth $13.9 million, Tether (USDT) worth $10.4 million and USD Coin (USDC), worth $2.2 million.

The crypto payments have gone towards military equipment, hardware, and munitions, including $11.8 million worth of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are typically used to spot enemy troops and direct attacks. 

The Ethereum network’s long-awaited transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake is set to occur on Sept 15 to Sept. 16 and for the last year traders and analysts have been discussing various outcomes for the upgrade and possible trading strategies. 

Let’s take a look at three options investors and traders have.

Hodl ETH to earn the expected “hardfork” token

The first strategy is relatively simple. Traders can simply buy Ether (ETH) in the spot market and hold it in their exchange wallet, or whatever platform/wallet will support forked tokens, and wait for the expected PoW token.

Way back in 2017, when Bitcoin was forked to Bitcoin Cash, BTC holders received an equal amount of BCH, which at one point traded for $1,650 per token. At the height of the 2021 bull market, BCH rallied as high as $800.

If PoW tokens from those entities that choose to ignore the Merge happens, then finding exchanges that support the hardforks will be the place to sell them. Don’t forget to pay your taxes if your country obligates you to do so.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) bounce fizzled out near $24,500 on Aug. 17, indicating that the recovery still faces stiff resistance from the bears. On-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators said the ask liquidity on the Fire Charts was similar to prior local tops.

Another reason for caution among crypto investors was that the recovery in the S&P 500 was reaching extreme overbought levels in the near term. Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro at asset manager Fidelity Investments, said that 88% of stocks in the S&P 500 were trading above their 50-day moving average, which was “stunning.”

Some were also cautious as Michael Burry, the investor who famously shorted the 2008 housing bubble, almost emptied his equity portfolio in the second quarter of this year in expectation of a sharp fall in the stock markets.

While the short-term looks uncertain, corporate investors who usually are in the game for the long term have increased their investments in the blockchain industry, including the crypto space. The top 40 publicly traded companies invested approximately $6 billion into blockchain startups between September 2021 to June 2022, according to a blog by Blockdata on Aug. 17. That is more than three times the $1.9 billion invested by corporations between January 2021 to September 2021.

What are the critical levels on the downside that will suggest that the recovery could be faltering? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Manchester United Fan Token (MUFC) is a dead coin and not related to the sports franchise, but one Elon Musk tweet was enough to revive it on Aug. 17.

Fake Man U token pumps after Elon Musk's tweet

To clarify, MUFC is not an official Manchester United crypto token. It came to life in August 2021 after a team of programmers, who said to be hardcore fans of the Manchester United, falsely claimed that holding MUFC would give them influence on the football club's decisions.

The team later conducted an "airdrop" round of 10,000,000,000 MUFC in November 2021, promising to provide 10,000 MUFC to users who follow its official social media handles. The prospects of getting free MUFC tokens helped its price rally to as high as $1.

But the project turned out to be vaporware, eventually leading MUFC down by 100% after November. It was deemed extinct until a tweet from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Aug. 17 revived it from oblivion.

The Tesla CEO tweeted that he would buy the Manchester United football club, which he later admitted was a "long-running joke."

High-profile security incidents continue to be a theme in 2022 as the Acala Network joined a long list of stricken platforms to fall prey to exploits.

Acala’s aUSD token, which acts as the native stablecoin for the Polkadot and Kusama blockchains, saw its value plummet 99% after a misconfiguration of the iBTC/aUSD liquidity pool was exploited after its launch on Aug. 14. Initial estimates from Acala noted that 1.2 billion aUSD were minted without the necessary collateral - seeing the token’s value depeg from its 1:1 USD ratio to a bottom of $.01.

Acala put its network in maintenance mode to freeze funds and eventually managed to recoup a significant portion of the uncollateralized tokens. The Acala community proposed and voted on a referendum to identify and destroy the erroneously minted tokens to return its USD peg to parity at $1.

1,288,561,129 aUSD minted on 16 specific accounts were returned to the network’s honzon protocol to be burnt. Another 4,299,119 erroneously minted aUSD remaining in the iBTC/aUSD reward pool were also destroyed.

While the cryptocurrency community considers whether the Acala Network took the right decision to essentially freeze its network, the stablecoin was able to be re-pegged in a short turnaround with the community playing its role in the chosen path to undo the exploit.

EOS rose approximately 20% to reach $1.66 on Aug. 17 and was on track to log its best daily performance since May 2021.

Initially, the EOS rally came in the wake of its positive correlation with top-ranking cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), which gained over 2% and 3.75%, respectively. But the upside move was also driven by a flurry of uplifting updates emerging from the EOS ecosystem.

EOS incentive program launch

On Aug. 14, the EOS Network Foundation (ENF), a not-for-profit organization that oversees the growth and development of the EOS blockchain, opened registrations for its upcoming "Yield+" incentive program.

The Yield+ is a liquidity incentive and reward program to attract DeFi applications that generate returns for their users. In doing so, the service attempts to compete with its top blockchain rivals in the DeFi space, namely Ethereum, Cardano (ADA), and Solana (SOL).

Since the beginning of Yield+ registration, the total value locked (TVL) inside the EOS pools has increased from 94.71 EOS to 102.18 EOS, showing a temporary spike in demand for the tokens. The TVL will likely increase in the days leading up to the reward activation on Aug. 28.

Bitcoin (BTC) returned to range resistance on Aug. 17 amid ongoing concerns that a retracement is imminen.

No success for Bitcoin bulls

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting $24,448 on Bitstamp, up 3.25% from the previous day's low before diving $600 in under an hour.

Momentum gained speed on the day, but bulls faced familiar resistance at levels keeping them broadly in check since mid-June. The past week's trips to $25,000 and beyond remained brief breakouts beyond a two-month price ceiling.

Analyzing the scenario, veteran trader Peter Brandt eyed a rising wedge setup in progress for Bitcoin with $20,700 as its starting point.

On-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators was less convinced about the staying power of the current rally.

Aave token holders have been asked to take part in an Aave Request for Comment (ARC) that would require them to "commit" to Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus.

The ARC, proposed on Aug. 16, comes in light of Ethereum's upcoming transition to proof-of-stake. It calls for members to select the Ethereum Mainnet running under PoS consensus as the new “canonical” governance system, while also giving power to an authority to shut down any Aave deployments on any alternative Ethereum forks. 

The proposal will soon be made on Aave’s DAO, which allows Aave token holders to vote on software developments and updates to the AAVE protocol.

As outlined on Aave’s governance website, the proposal comes with two main specs. Firstly, members will formally signal that the Aave DAO deployed on Ethereum Mainnet’s PoS consensus is the “canonical governance [mechanism]” of the Aave DAO and Aave markets.

Secondly, a signal will give the Community Guardian the authority to shut down any Aave deployments on any other forks that arise from the Ethereum Merge.

Digital asset exchange Crypto.com has just been given the green-light for “certain cryptoasset activities” in the United Kingdom, after receiving registration confirmation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Tuesday. 

According to an Aug. 16 entry in the FCA’s Financial Services Register, ‘FORIS DAX UK LIMITED’ has been registered to conduct "certain cryptoasset activities", whilst also obtaining Money Laundering Regulation Status.

FORIS DAX UK LIMITED is listed as the registered UK trading name for Crypto.com.

Details on the registration are scarce at the time of writing and Crypto.com and the FCA are yet to comment on it, however, the FCA website suggests that businesses carrying on crypto asset activity in the UK must register to be compliant with money laundering, terrorist financing and transfer of funds regulations.

As defined by the FCA, crypto asset activity includes exchanging crypto assets for money or money for crypto assets, or automating a machine to do so, and exchanging crypto assets for crypto assets.

Solana (SOL) price rallied by approximately 75% two months after bottoming out locally near $25.75, but the token's splendid upside move is at risk of a complete wipeout due to an ominous bearish technical indicator.

A major SOL crash setup surfaces

Dubbed a "head-and-shoulders (H&S)," the pattern appears when the price forms three consecutive peaks atop a common resistance level (called the neckline). Notably, the middle peak (head) comes to be higher than the other two shoulders, which are of almost equal height.

Head and shoulders patterns resolve after the price breaks below their neckline. In doing so, the price falls by as much as the distance between the head's peak and the neckline when measured from the breakdown point, per a rule of technical analysis.

It appears SOL has been forming a similar bearish setup on its longer-timeframe charts.  

On the weekly chart, the token has been forming the right shoulder of the overall pattern, suggesting a correction toward the neckline at $27 during the second half of 2022. Meanwhile, a breakdown below $27 could result in an extended correction toward $2.80.

Bitcoin (BTC) sank to intraday support on Aug. 16 as concerns emerged over the fate of United States stock markets.

U.S. stocks face stiff resistance

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting $23,685 on Bitstamp, nearing lows from Aug. 12.

After an eerily calm 24 hours, downside set in at the day's Wall Street open as previous highs in excess of $25,000 looked increasingly like a double top.

Analyzing the potential outcomes, a typically conservative Il Capo of Crypto warned that upside was now highly unlikely given Bitcoin's inability to break out.

"Two options, both bearish," he began a fresh Twitter update on the day by saying.

The market capitalization of Tether (USDT) tokens has increased by nearly $2 billion since the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash.

The Office of Foreign Asset Control essentially barred Americans from using Tornado Cash on Aug. 8, blacklisting 44 USD Coin (USDC) and Ether (ETH) addresses connected to the service to a list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN).

OFAC alleges that Tornado Cash was used by individuals and criminal organizations to launder over $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency since 2019. Funds linked to North Korean Lazarus Group hackers are also believed to have been mixed through Tornado Cash.

Circle, the issuer of stablecoin USDC, went as far as freezing assets linked to the 44 addresses flagged by OFAC. The move by Circle was warranted given the potential ramifications for continuing to interact with the addresses.

Penalties for noncompliance range from fines of $50,000 to $10,000,000 and 10 to 30 years imprisonment. Circle froze 75,000 USDC worth of funds linked to the accounts in question in an effort to be fully compliant with the Treasury ruling.

Ether (ETH) rejected the $2,000 resistance on Aug. 14, but the solid 82.8% gain since the rising wedge formation started on July 13 certainly seems like a victory for bulls. Undoubtedly, the "ultrasound money" dream gets closer as the network expects the Merge transaction to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus network on Sept. 16. 

Some critics point out that the transition out of proof-of-work (PoW) mining has been delayed for years and that the Merge itself does not address the scalability issue. The network’s migration to parallel processing (sharding) is expected to happen later in 2023 or early 2024.

As for the Ether bulls, the EIP-1559 burn mechanism introduced in August 2021 was essential to drive ETH to scarcity, as crypto analyst and influencer Kris Kay illustrates:

The highly anticipated move to the Ethereum beacon chain enjoyed a lot of criticism, despite eliminating the need to support the expensive energy-intensive mining activities. Below, “DrBitcoinMD” highlights the impossibility for ETH stakers to withdraw their coins, creating an unsustainable temporary offer-side reduction.

Undoubtedly, the decreased amount of coins available for sale caused a supply shock, especially after the 82.8% rally as Ether has recently undergone. Still, these investors knew the risks of ETH 2.0 staking and no promises were made for instant transfers post-Merge.

On Aug. 15, Bitcoin (BTC) price and the wider market corrected while the S&P 500 and DOW looked to build on four-straight weeks of robust gains. Data from TradingView and CNBC show the Dow pushing through its 200-day moving average, a first since April 21 and perhaps a sign for bulls that the market has bottomed. 

While equities markets have been strikingly bullish in the face of high inflation and a steady schedule of interest rate hikes, a number of traders fear that the current 32-day uptrend in the DOW and S&P 500 could be a bear market rally.

This week’s (Aug. 17) release of minutes from the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) should give more context to the Federal Reserve’s current view of the health of the United States economy and perhaps shed light on the size of the next interest rate hike.

For the past month, overly bullish crypto traders on Twitter have also been touting a narrative that emphasizes Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and altcoins selling off prior to FOMC meetings and then rallying afterward if the set rate aligns with investors' projected figure.

Somehow, this short-term dynamic also contributes to investors’ belief that the Fed will “pivot” away from its monetary policy of interest hikes and quantitative tightening after “inflation peaks.” This may be a somewhat profitable trade for savvy day-traders, but it’s important to note that inflation is currently at 8.5% and the Fed’s target is 2%, which is quite aways to go.

Bitcoin (BTC) has been witnessing a tough battle between the bulls and the bears near the $25,000 level. A clear winner may not emerge in the short term due to a lack of a catalyst and because there is no major macro economic data scheduled for this week in the United States. Data points from Asia or Europe may increase volatility, but they are unlikely to start a new directional move.

Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of Skybridge Capital, in an interview with CNBC, advised investors to ride out the current uncertainty in cryptocurrencies and “stay patient and stay long term.” He expects Bitcoin to reward investors immensely with a sharp uptrend over the next six years.

Along with the focus on Bitcoin, investors are also keeping a close eye on Ether (ETH) ahead of its Merge scheduled for Sept. 15. A whale address that had participated in the genesis ICO but had remained dormant for three years has transferred about 150,000 Ether on Aug. 14. This has led to differing views with some speculating that the whale may dump his holdings after the Merge but others believe that the transfers may have been done to stake the huge quantity of Ether.

Could buying emerge at lower levels and resume the up-move in Bitcoin and the altcoins? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

BTC/USDT

The bulls tried to resume the up-move in Bitcoin but the bears sold aggressively at $25,211 and pulled the price down to the 20-day exponential moving average ($23,483). This resulted in the formation of an outside-day candlestick pattern on Aug. 15.

The Acala Network’s aUSD stablecoin depegged by over 99% over the weekend and forced the Acala team to pause a hacker’s wallet, raising concerns about its claim of being decentralized.

On Aug. 14, a hacker took advantage of a bug on the iBTC/aUSD liquidity pool which resulted in 1.2 billion aUSD being minted without collateral. This event crashed the USD-pegged stablecoin to a cent, and in response, the Acala team froze the erroneously minted tokens by placing the network in maintenance mode.

The move also halted other features such as swaps, xcm (cross-chain communications on Polkadot), and the oracle pallet price feeds until “further notice”

While the move to put the network in maintenance mode and freeze funds in the hacker’s wallet may have been meant to protect users and the network from any further harm, proponents of decentralization have cried foul.

Acala is a cross-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) hub that issues the aUSD stablecoin based on the Polkadot (DOT) blockchain. aUSD is a crypto-backed stablecoin which Acala claims is censorship-resistant. iBTC is a form of wrapped Bitcoin (BTC) which can be used in DeFi protocols.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) broke out of its prevailing "cup-and-handle" pattern on Aug. 14, raising its prospects of securing additional gains in the coming weeks.

Shiba Inu could soar 50%

A cup-and-handle appears when the price falls and rises in a U-shaped trajectory in the first stage, followed by a swift move sideways or downward in the second. Notably, the price trend develops under a common resistance level.

Typically, cup-and-handle patterns resolve after the price breaks above the resistance level; SHIB did the same on Aug. 14 after rising 27% to $0.000016, as shown below.

Per the rule of technical analysis, a cup-and-handle breakout target is determined by measuring the distance between the pattern's lowest point and resistance line and adding it to the breakout point. As a result, SHIB could head toward $0.00002253.

In other words, a 50% price rally by September.

The S&P 500 rose for the fourth successive week as investors cheered on signs that inflation may have peaked. Bitcoin (BTC) and select altcoins also extended their recovery, suggesting that investors are increasing their exposure to risk assets.

A similar trend has played out in the cryptocurrency markets. Altcoins, led by Ether (ETH), have outperformed Bitcoin after clarity on Ethereum’s Merge, according to analysts at Glassnode.

However, trading firm QCP Capital is cautious about the momentum in the altcoin market. They highlighted that the open interest on Ether options had surged to $8 billion, exceeding Bitcoin option OI which was at $5 billion. Glassnode suggested that traders have been booking profits on the spread between their spot long Ether versus the quarterly short Ether futures positions.

Could Bitcoin and the altcoins extend their recovery in the next few days? Let’s study the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that may outperform in the near term.

BTC/USDT

Bitcoin rose above the overhead resistance of $24,668 on Aug. 13 and Aug. 14 but the bulls could not sustain the higher levels. This indicates that bears are selling on rallies but repeated breach of an overhead resistance tends to weaken it.

Bitcoin (BTC) spiked through $25,000 for the first time in months on Aug. 14, but traders refused to take any chances on a bull run.

Weekend produces brief $25,000 tap for BTC

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a sudden run-up on BTC/USD, which hit $25,050 on Bitstamp in a $350 hourly candle.

The move took the pair to a new personal best since June 13, erasing more of the losses seen that day in what remains a significant BTC price correction.

Analyzing the market setup, however, familiar bearish tones remained. 

For popular Twitter account Il Capo of Crypto, the latest highs appeared to provide the last piece of the puzzle before a new downtrend set in.

Velodrome Finance, a trading and liquidity marketplace, announced the recovery of $350,000 stolen on Aug. 4. However, the occasion turned bittersweet when internal investigations pointed out the involvement of a prominent team member, who goes by the pseudo name Gabagool.

On Aug. 4, one of Velodrome’s high-worth wallets — dedicated for operating funds such as salaries — was drained off $350,000 before it could be transferred to the company’s treasury multisig wallet. A subsequent internal investigation revealed the attacker’s identification, which allowed the company to recover the entire loot. Velodrome’s official statement revealed:

“Much to our disappointment, we learned the attacker was a fellow team member Gabagool.”

While many community members came in support of the prominent coder, Gabagool owned up to the allegations made against him following Velodrome’s investigation. 

Nearly six hours into the revelation, Gabagool released a note revealing various events that led him to attempt theft. Velodrome’s biggest mistake was to give ownership of its wallet’s private key to five individuals, which included Gabagool.