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Axie Infinity (AXS) has been forming a giant bearish reversal pattern since July last year, which could send its prices down by another 95% in 2022.

AXS risks one big breakdown

Dubbed the "inverted cup and handle," the pattern is identified by its large crescent shape followed by a modest upward retracement. It typically resolves after the price breaks out of the rising channel, followed by another break below the cup-and-handle's neckline support.

Meanwhile, as a rule of technical analysis, an inverted cup and handle breakout leads the price to the level at length equal to the maximum distance between the structure's top and support.

AXS's price rally during the second half of 2021, followed by its complete wipeout in 2022, makes a crescent shape trend, which looks like an inverted cup. Furthermore, the recent 50% price rebound from the June 18's local bottom of $11.82 forms an inverted handle, as shown below.

Thus, AXS's technicals appear skewed to the downside, given it breaks below the inverted handle range with a breakdown target of $1, down about 95% from today's price.

Bitcoin (BTC) found strength at $22,000 into July 24 with bulls still aiming for a solid green weekly close.

Classic levels for end-of-week price focus

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD halting a weekend drop at $21,900 to return towards the $23,000 on the day.

The pair held a trading range closely focused on key long-term trendlines, which analysts had previously described as essential to reclaim.

These included the 50-day and 200-week moving averages (MAs), the latter particularly important as support during bear markets but which had acted as resistance since May.

“Bullish that we perfectly held the 13d ema + horizontal 21.9k,” popular Twitter trading account CryptoMellany argued in part of her latest update on the day.

Proposals in crypto help communities make consensus-based decisions. However, for decentralized music platform Auduis, the passing of a malicious governance proposal resulted in the transfer of tokens worth $5.9 million, with the hacker making away with $1 million. 

On July 24, a malicious proposal (Proposal #85) requesting the transfer of 18 million Audius’ in-house AUDIO tokens was approved by community voting. First pointed out on Crypto Twitter by @spreekaway, the attacker created the malicious proposal wherein they were “able to call initialize() and set himself as the sole guardian of the governance contract.”

Further investigation from Auduis confirmed the unauthorized transfer of AUDIO tokens from the company’s treasury. Following the revelation, Auduis proactively halted all Audius smart contracts and AUDIO tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. 

Blockchain investigator Peckshield narrowed down the fault to Audius’ storage layout inconsistencies.

While the hacker’s governance proposal drained out 18 million tokens worth nearly $6 million from the treasury, it was soon dumped and sold for $1.08 million. While the dumping resulted in maximum slippage, investors recommended an immediate buyback to prevent existing investors from dumping and further lowering the token’s floor price. 

Experienced crypto traders know that bull markets are for selling and bear markets are for accumulation, but the latter can be difficult amid a backdrop of surging inflation that saps the purchasing power of fiat currencies. 

As the crypto market heads deeper into crypto winter, with prices in the gutter and developers focused on creating the next popular protocol or breakout token, some crypto fans have begun to explore new ways of increasing their stack in preparation for the next bull market.

Here’s a look at the top five ways hodlers can increase the size of their crypto portfolio without breaking the bank so that the money they earn can go toward combating the rising cost of living.

Staking

Staking is perhaps the most tested and proven way to increase the number of tokens held, as the vast majority of proof-of-stake (PoS) networks offer a steady yield for locking up coins.

In addition to helping with transaction validation and network security, staking tokens in a smart contract reduces the available circulating supply, which, in turn, can help boost the price of the underlying crypto asset.

In a downtrend, when markets do not respond negatively to bearish news, it is a sign that the selling may have reached exhaustion. Reports of electric vehicle maker Tesla dumping 75% of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings in the second quarter only caused a minor blip as lower levels attracted strong buying from the bulls.

Tesla was not the only institution that sold its Bitcoin. Arcane Research analyst Vetle Lunde highlighted in a Twitter thread that large institutions have sold 236,237 BTC since May 10.

It is encouraging to note that even after huge selling by institutions and the unfavorable macro environment, Bitcoin has held up quite well.

The current bear market allows an opportunity for new traders to enter at lower levels. A report published by Boston Consulting Group, Bitget and Foresight Ventures shows that only 0.3% of individual wealth is parked in crypto compared to 25% in equities. This shows that crypto is still in the early stages of adoption compared to legacy markets.

Could Bitcoin and major altcoins extend their recovery over the short term? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

It has been a volatile yet positive week for cryptocurrencies, as traders ignored the warnings from crypto winter veterans that there was more downside in store and jumped back into the market at the first sign of rising prices. 

Evidence for the reversal in sentiment can be found in the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which has climbed into the fear zone after spending a record time in the extreme fear territory due to collapsing prices in May and June.

As for what sparked the rally out of extreme fear, a closer look at the timeline points to the announcement of the expected date for the Ethereum Merge, which came on July 15.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that, following the Merge date revelation, the price of Ether (ETH) has climbed 38.5% from $1,190 to a daily high of $1,650 on July 22 amid an overall green day in the market.

Along with the climbing price of Ether, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has increased 15% over the past week to its current value of $1.051 trillion.

The latest episode of Market Talks welcomes Nicholas Merten, the founder of DataDash, one of the largest cryptocurrency YouTube channels.

Merten is an international speaker, thought leader and crypto analyst. He has utilized his 10-plus years of experience in traditional markets to understand the potential of cryptocurrencies and help his 515,000 YouTube subscribers make better investment decisions.

One of the topics up for discussion with Merten isthe recent Bitcoin (BTC) price rally. Are the markets finally out of the sideways trend it’s been stuck in for months, or is this just another bull trap forming, with BTC to head back down below $20,000?

With all seasoned traders and experts eyeing the BTC 200-week moving average, Merten is asked the significance of this indicator and why many consider it to be so important. They also get into where he sees BTC heading in the near future, toward $30,000 or back down to $17,000?

Another topic up for discussion is whether retail investors are starting to rush back into the market — could that be playing a part in the price rally? Ether (ETH) has been performing exceptionally well recently, with more updates about its move from a proof-of-work protocol to proof-of-stake. Could Ether be the one leading the markets this time, as opposed to Bitcoin? The hosts will be taking a look at the ETH chart to get a better picture.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) has been outperforming its arch-rival Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) during the current crypto market rebound with the ETC/ETH pairs at 10-month highs.

Why is ETC beating ETH?

ETC's price has risen to $27 on July 22, amounting to a 100% gain in nine days after bottoming out at $13.35. Comparatively, ETH's price has seen a 64% rally in U.S. dollar terms.

Ethereum's rebound has been among the sharpest among the top cryptocurrencies, primarily due to euphoria surrounding its potential network upgrade in September.

Dubbed "the Merge," the long-awaited technical update will switch Ethereum from proof-of-stake (PoS) to proof-of-work (PoS).

Moreover, it will replace miners with stakers. As a result, the PoS switch could force existing Ethereum miners to switch to PoW chains.

Bitcoin (BTC) took a step back as Wall Street trading began on July 22 after recovering most of its previous losses.

BTC bulls fail to sustain assault on multi-week high

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed BTC/USD encountering fresh resistance near $24,000.

The pair had spent the past 24 hours slowly clawing back lost ground after news that Tesla had sold most of its BTC holdings.

With the pre-announcement high of $24,280 still in force, bulls saw something of a setback as Wall Street opened on the day, with BTC/USD losing around $400.

Analyzing the current order book structure on major exchange Binance, on-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators warned that the overall bear market structure remained in control.

As the blockchain space becomes more extensive, cybersecurity becomes a more crucial requirement for many. Because of this, PolySwarm CEO Steve Bassi argued that there is a need to leverage blockchain for cybersecurity.

Bassi told Cointelegraph that while the awareness of blockchain technology and security is on the rise, the use of blockchain within cybersecurity is still in its early days. “Awareness about cyber security and crypto, especially over the last five years, increased more than any time during my professional security career,” he said.

Despite the rise in awareness, the CEO noted that cybersecurity projects are still in the middle of trying to find applications of blockchain in the space. Because of the market gaps, Bassi noted that they created a project to use blockchain to enhance security. They do this by rewarding users as they provide data on malware. The executive said:

“Gathering complete data on malware infrastructure shortens the lifespan of major malware campaigns and ultimately keeps PolySwarm’s customers and the internet at large more secure.”

Taking inspiration from the success of the Brave browser, Bassi explained that at the moment, antivirus companies are already gathering what he describes as “ultra-valuable malware infrastructure” but don’t compensate users for providing the data.

Bitcoin (BTC) extended losses on the July 21 Wall Street open after a key resistance level failed to hold as new support.

Dollar rises to squeeze risk assets

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD dropping to $22,340 on Bitstamp after the opening bell, down 8% from its local top. 

The pair's progress had seen a challenge from Tesla, which revealed that it had sold 75% of its BTC position at a loss. Macro events then added to Bitcoin's woes in the form of fresh U.S. dollar strength and a surprise rate hike from the European Central Bank (ECB) to combat inflation.

At the time of writing, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) had regained 107, up 0.6% in an hour as U.S. equities conversely saw modest losses. 

In Europe, meanwhile, the ECB decision failed to improve the fortunes of the euro, which gave back early gains as the Eurozone battled fresh political fallout in Italy.

Thailand’s oldest bank is unable to acquire the country’s largest local cryptocurrency exchange due to stringent crypto regulations.

As reported by Cointelegraph in November 2021, SCB X Group, a subsidiary of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), was set to acquire a 51% stake in Bitkub by the second quarter of 2022 as part of a plan to become a regional fintech. Now things seem to have taken a twist, as the bank has indefinitely postponed its plans to acquire the popular exchange.

As crypto trading continues to be hampered by regulation, SCB X has indefinitely decided not to move forward with a $487 million offer for a 51% stake in Bitkub, Thailand’s major cryptocurrency exchange platform.

According to a report by Nikkei Asia on Thursday, the parent company of SCB, SCB X, informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) that the acquisition is “still undergoing due diligence.” A senior official of SCB X told the outlet that the team doesn't know when the deal will be sealed.

The news of the reschedule was revealed earlier this month when SCB X submitted a letter to SET outlining the current situation. In a statement, SCB X CEO Arthid Nanthawithaya said:

The developers of the Dogecoin (DOGE) project have released a new update for the core software, which improves security, efficiency and user interface.

This latest update, Dogecoin Core 1.14.6, went live early on Thursday, and all the network participants were urged to upgrade to the latest version. The new update comprises numerous security fixes, modifications to the existing fee structure and several new features.

A change in the wallet backup directory's configuration and a limit on the maximum number of addnode records are also among the "breaking changes." The amount of addnodes has been restricted to 800. An essential upgrade to DOGE's fee mechanism was included in the release: dust limits for all network participants have been reduced from 1 DOGE to 0.01 DOGE.

In the event of congestion, the memory management of the network has been enhanced, according to the Github paper. The document also reveals that the network now rejects buggy messages. Dogecoin Core developer Patrick Lodder wrote in a Github document that:

“This is a new minor version release, including important security updates and changes to network efficiency. All Dogecoin Core users – miners, services, relay operators and wallet users – are strongly recommended to upgrade.”