ACCRA, Ghana Block CEO Jack Dorsey and his top brass descended on Accra for the inaugural Africa Bitcoin Conference in December to talk about one of the most potentially disruptive and transformative alternatives to the continent's existing financial system: bitcoin.

Since its inception in 2008, this unfamiliar form of money has alternatively been disdained as an absurdly complex toy for libertarian techies, a legalized form of gambling, a speculative bet to get rich quick, and a vehicle for criminals and fraudsters to obscure the origins of their ill-begotten gains.

But this parallel financial system can also serve a tangible social good, offering an onramp to the financial system for people who would otherwise be left out. In countries where the vast majority of the population is unbanked, national currencies are no longer a safe store of value, remittances comprise a hefty portion of GDP, and international sanctions complicate connections to the global economy, a virtual currency that doesn't require an intermediary to approve transactions can be a vital lifeline for survival.

As cryptocurrency continues to rise in prominence and becomes a growing flashpoint for regulators, Dorsey and his deputies are providing an essential counternarrative: Bitcoin brings financial power to people who would otherwise have none.

"It doesn't matter to me if the price goes down or up, because I can still use bitcoin as a vehicle to move money around the world instantaneously," said Mike Brock, the CEO of TBD at Block, a unit which focuses on cryptocurrency and decentralized finance.

"I can exchange dollars for bitcoin and then bitcoin for Brazilian rial. There is a market for bitcoin in every corner of the world today," continued Brock.

Moving money in Africa is an expensive and complicated process.

Commercial bank branch access is limited, especially for people living in remote and rural areas. Digital banking options are also limited. Tack on rampant hyperinflation, widespread government corruption, and capital controls trapping domestic cash in banks, and money can stop making sense altogether.

"If someone wants to move money to the country next door, normally, you'd have to fill up a suitcase full of cash and move it over the border," explains Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful.

Part of the problem stems from the continent's quasi-colonial payment framework, in which roughly 80% of cross-border payments originating from African banks are processed offshore, mostly in the U.S. or Europe. That translates to higher costs and processing times that are sometimes measured in weeks.

Then there's mobile money, which has been around since the early 2000s. Think of it like an electronic wallet tied to a phone number that does not require a smartphone or data to operate. Users can pay bills and shop with their phone through SMS texting, instead of having to rely on traditional banking options.

Africa's mobile money transactions rose 39% to more than $700 billion in 2021, according to data from the GSM Association, a non-profit representing mobile network operators worldwide. World Bank data shows that account ownership at a financial institution or via a mobile money service provider has more than doubled in the last decade, rising to 55% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa.

An employee uses a Nokia 1200 mobile phone inside an M-Pesa store in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday, April 14, 2013.

Trevor Snap | Bloomberg | Getty Images

But even as adoption proliferates, mobile money users don't get the perks of legacy banking, including earning interest on banked savings and building up a credit score based on a history of spending. Interoperability on the continent also remains a major issue with this alternative way of banking.

"The entire banking system in Africa is completely and utterly broken, even amongst the mobile money providers, the telcos," said Youssef from Paxful, a peer-to-peer crypto marketplace where users can directly buy and sell tokens with one another.

"Two thousand payment networks and only 2% of them talk to each other. That number continues to grow. It's not getting better, it's actually getting worse," continued Youssef.

Companies like Western Union and MoneyGram offer an expansive physical network of storefronts around the world designed to move money for those who are unbanked. That cash network was extraordinarily difficult and expensive to build, which is why there aren't a lot of direct competitors. It is also why those cash transfers often incur substantial fees.

Bitcoin could eliminate all these intermediaries, allowing citizens to send digital payments directly to one another, without relying on credit and without incurring multiple settlement fees along the way.

"We're going to move to a model where we can make payments without IOUs, or credit, or promises, or fiat," said Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer for the Human Rights Foundation, an organization that works with activists from authoritarian regimes around the world. "It's literally like sending a piece of gold or a $20 bill instantly somewhere else."

"If you can get access to the internet, you can settle bitcoin payments," said Brock. "And the government can't do anything about it."

Dorsey points to the example of what happened in Nigeria during the protests against the brutality of the country's Special Anti-Robbery Squad a movement referred to as #EndSARS.

"The Nigerian government went to various bank corps to stop protesters from receiving money which bitcoin made up for," Dorsey said in Accra. "So our whole reason for being as a company is solving the same problem that bitcoin will ultimately solve for everyone in the world."

Moving money on the bitcoin blockchain at its base layer has its own challenges. At times of peak demand, fees will often spike higher, and if a user is unwilling to pay a premium for the transaction, they may have to wait for more blocks of transactions to get confirmed before their transfer goes through.

Bitcoin's Lightning Network helps alleviate both of those problems by slashing the cost of transactions to virtually zero and enabling nearly instantaneous cash payments around the planet making bitcoin a more effective payment rail. This so-called "layer two" technology is built on top of bitcoin's main chain, in part because bitcoiners are conservative about introducing changes to the base layer, for fear of opening it up to hacks or other mischief.

Yellow Card Africa's largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange run by CEO Chris Maurice is also looking to embed this layer two technology into the platform, in order to drive down the price of transactions to virtually zero. Currently, the exchange doesn't charge a commission for transactions, but network fees can be pretty steep when a lot of trades are happening at once.

"It'll have a pretty big impact to our customers, because a lot of them are very price sensitive," says Justin Poiroux, the co-founder and CTO of Yellow Card.

Yellow Card's plan is still in its infancy, but Poiroux tells CNBC that he thinks the Lightning Network could ultimately provide a lot of value for its retail customers.

Bitnob CEO Bernard Parah and Cash App's crypto product lead, Miles Suter, at the Africa Bitcoin Conference in Accra, Ghana.

Bernard Parah

Because Lightning offers a universal monetary language, money can travel around the world between any Lightning-enabled bitcoin wallet. Someone who uses a platform like Block's Cash App a regulated, American financial product with 51 million monthly transacting users which integrated with the Lightning Network in Feb. 2022 can pay any Lightning invoice in the world instantly.

"It's a new way of doing business. It's a different paradigm entirely," said Gladstein.

The crypto product lead at Cash App, Miles Suter, believes that a big part of bitcoin's utility is how it gets around broken and convoluted payment systems that don't talk to each other.

"At Cash App in particular, we've always been really interested in taking bitcoin beyond just being seen an investment and bringing day-to-day utility to it," Suter told CNBC on the sidelines of the Africa Bitcoin Conference.

"In many ways, the people on the African continent are already doing that with the tools they have," continued Suter.

Bernard Parah is a 30-year-old entrepreneur living in Jos, Nigeria, about a five hour drive from the capital city of Abuja. He's the CEO of Bitnob, an app that lets users across Africa buy, save, and invest in bitcoin. Bitnob is SMS-based and piggybacks on the mobile money system, making it easier for people to send money directly into bank accounts and mobile money wallets in African countries.

Parah recently teamed up with Strike, a Lightning Network payments platform, to launch a feature called "Send Globally" that allows Americans to transfer money to people living in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya.

It uses local fiat cash on either side of the transaction, but bitcoin is used under the hood as the pipeline to jump money over the border. The end user never touches the cryptocurrency themselves.

"We're able to settle into bank accounts or mobile money accounts, without the recipients having to interact with bitcoin themselves," Parah tells CNBC.

"Over time, we've seen that there are still people who really don't understand how to use bitcoin; who don't care about bitcoin. What they do care about is their problems getting solved," continued Parah.

Bitnob CEO Bernard Parah and Strike CEO Jack Mallers announcing the launch of 'Send Globally' on stage at the Africa Bitcoin Conference in Accra, Ghana.

Bernard Parah

It feels like a wire transfer or a Venmo payment, according to Strike CEO Jack Mallers.

"It's instant. There's no debt. There's no credit. There's no delays," explains Mallers.

The model works because Parah and Mallers are willing to take on the liability associated with the transfer by holding cash in escrow on either end of the exchange.

Once the money is received in Nigeria, Bitnob which is a regulated entity with connections to the local banks will take that bitcoin and turn it into their local currency.

"It's just two regulated entities communicating over the language of bitcoin and cutting out excess fees," said Suter. "I think that's revolutionary."

Mallers says that they offer more competitive foreign exchange rates by using bitcoin as a price-setting intermediary, a sort of new world reserve currency.

"The rate that we got was actually 60% better than the traditional forex market rate," said Mallers. "The way to actually think about how we're achieving forex if we clear through bitcoin is, 'I have dollars. How many bitcoin can I get for my dollars? And then how many naira can I get for my bitcoin?'" said Mallers.

"It's acting as the most liquid, accessible, global instrument for us to clear and settle value amongst each other," he said.

The arrangement also offers a few big ancillary benefits, including interoperability with payment apps around the world that have tens of millions of users.

Block's Suter explained that Cash App could theoretically interoperate with Bitnob.

"We're only live in the U.S. right now, but that doesn't mean we can't speak to Bitnob in Nigeria and transfer value instantly and for free across these borders," Suter said of Cash App.

South African developer Kgothatso Ngako built a custodial lightning wallet called Machankura.

Kgothatso Ngako

South African developer Kgothatso Ngako, who goes by KG, has integrated the Lightning Network into the GSM network, combining the best of a few worlds, in a larger effort to meet customers where they are.

"My focus is giving people without an internet connection the ability to send or receive bitcoin," Ngako said.

KG calls his custodial Lightning wallet "Machankura" South African slang for money. Whereas most Lightning transactions today require a smartphone and data, Ngako's service integrates lightning via Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, or USSD, which is the protocol that mobile money runs on. (It is similar to HTTP, or HyperText Transport Protocol, the protocol on which the web was built.)

Ngako tells CNBC that he currently has around 3,000 users spread across eight countries, with a concentration in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria. In his home market of South Africa, there are strict rules around currency exchange, which make his product even more appealing to some users looking to move their money abroad.

"The South African Reserve Bank regulates the cross-border flow of capital including the exchange of currency to and from South Africa. You need some form of approval to convert ZAR into foreign currency," said Ernest Marais, partner at Johannesburg law firm, Tabacks.

KG's Machankura is compatible with any Lightning wallet on the planet. In practice, this means that someone with the Cash App in San Francisco, for example, could instantly send bitcoin via Lightning to the phone number of someone with a data-less, basic phone living in a remote part of Uganda.

Ngako's project does face some risks, including regulatory blowback.

Marais tells CNBC that because the South African Reserve Bank cannot regulate the cross-border flow of cryptocurrency, it is considered to be illegal and a criminal offense though crypto regulation largely remains nebulous across most of the continent.

"All African central banks, except for Central African Republic, have made notices stating that they don't issue bitcoin and hence they don't regulate it," counters Ngako, adding that a bitcoin transaction cannot be considered a cross-border exchange as bitcoin transactions aren't regulated within the central bank's institution.

But the rules are confusing for everyone involved.

"The actual location of crypto assets is an anomaly. At what point does it leave the country?" continued Marais.

Ultimately, Ngako believes that once Machankura begins to scale, it will be a major driver of bitcoin adoption across the continent. To that end, Ngako is raising money and building a common refrain among the entrepreneurs on the ground in Accra.

As Dorsey said in Africa, "More and more mass adoption will, in my belief, take away all the oxygen" from governments attempting to control behavior through financial oppression.

"So what do we do? We build, we build, we build, we build, we build, they can't stop us. And that's what's important."

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Bitcoin is poised to blow up Africa's $86 billion banking system - CNBC

On-chain data shows the Bitcoin MVRV ratio is approaching a retest of the 1.5 level, breaking above which may be bullish for the assets price.

As explained by an analyst in a CryptoQuant post, the 1.5 level of the metric has held significant importance in the past. The MVRV ratio is an indicator that measures the ratio between the market cap of Bitcoin and its realized cap.

The realized cap here refers to a capitalization model for BTC that assumes that each coin in the circulating supply has its real value the same as the price at which it was last moved or transferred on the blockchain.

Since the MVRV ratio compares the market cap (that is, the normal price of BTC) with this fair-value model, the ratios value can provide hints about whether BTC is currently aptly valued or not.

When the value of the indicator is higher than one, it means the assets market cap is greater than its realized cap right now. Such a trend can imply the cryptocurrency may be overvalued currently.

On the other hand, the metric having values below this threshold suggest the fair value of BTC is above its current price, and hence, the coin may be undervalued at the moment.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Bitcoin MVRV ratio over the last few years:

As you can see in the above graph, the quant has highlighted the relevant portions of the trend for the Bitcoin MVRV ratio. The region below 1, as mentioned earlier, is the undervalued zone where bottoms have historically formed for the coin. Cyclical tops, however, havent generally formed in the zone above 1, but rather at much higher values like 3 or more.

Following the COVID crash back in 2020, the MVRV bounced out of the underpriced region and showed some constant upwards momentum, until it reached higher than 3.75, and the top of the bull run in the first half of 2021 was formed.

After that, in the May-July 2021 mini-bear period, the indicator took a plunge and hit a value of around 1.5. The level, however, provided support to the metric and helped it make a sharp recovery, which ultimately culminated in the November 2021 Bitcoin all-time high price.

When the transition towards the bear market started to take place, the MVRV ratio plummeted to the 1.5 level again, but the line once again helped the indicator hold on.

This time, however, after sideways movement around the level, the indicator eventually plunged below it as the market crash due to the LUNA collapse occurred.

The decline also continued later with the Three Arrows Capital (3AC) collapse, and the metric found itself inside the undervalued region again. The ratio spent a while in this zone until the latest rally came and finally pulled it out of there. This escape above the region may suggest that at least the worst of the bear market may be over for now.

With the sharp rise in BTC recently, the MVRV ratio has also naturally continued to go up and is now approaching the 1.5 level which it had multiple encounters within the last few years.

Its possible that the coin could find resistance here and be rejected back downwards. The quant believes, however, that if a breach does happen here, then Bitcoin might be able to sustain its bullish momentum.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $28,600, up 4% in the last week.

Featured image from Dmitry Demidko on Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com, CryptoQuant.com

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Bitcoin MVRV Ratio Approaches 1.5 Level, Will Break Happen? - NewsBTC

XRP dominates the market share in trade volume across South Koreas four largest exchanges.

XRP trade volume across the top South Korean crypto exchanges has recently seen a massive surge. The asset currently dominates the market share in Koreas four largest exchanges, comfortably overtaking Bitcoin (BTC). This development underscores renewed demand for the XRP, as South Korean traders look to leverage its latest rally.

Data from price-tracking resource CoinMarketCap indicates that XRP has overtaken BTC in trade volume dominance on UpBit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit, all among South Koreas top five cryptocurrency exchanges.

XRP is witnessing a 24-hour trade volume of $569.2 million on UpBit, Koreas largest exchange. This volume represents 17.03% of UpBits trade volume in the past 24 hours. In contrast, Bitcoin sees a 24-hour volume of $188.6 million, accounting for 5.64% of total trade volume.

Moreover, XRPs trade volume on Bithumb currently stands at $137.9 million at the time of writing, representing 34.05% of the exchanges total trade volume. On the other hand, Bitcoins trade volume amounts to $71.1 million, representing 17.57% market share. Bithumb is South Koreas second-largest exchange.

Coinone, the third largest exchange in Korea, is also seeing a dominance of XRP in its trade volume, as the asset boasts a volume of $35.9 million, accounting for 42.08% of its volume in the past 24 hours. XRPs trade volume on Coinone is more than double of Bitcoins volume, which stands at $16.4 million.

XRPs dominance also spilled into Korbit, Koreas fifth-largest exchange. The asset currently commands 38.02% of Korbits total 24-hour trade volume. The assets volume stands at $2.8 million. BTC follows closely behind in market share, with 36.99%. All volumes are taken from trades against the Korean won (KRW).

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Despite a 1.71% decline in the past 24 hours, XRPs rally endures, as the asset has maintained a 22.34% gain in the past week. This positions XRP as the highest gainer among the top 100 assets by market cap.

The asset reclaimed the much-coveted $0.55 zone yesterday for the first time in ten months. It towered over the territory, reaching a high of $0.579 before facing a roadblock. XRP is trading for $0.5412, with a new goal to reclaim the $0.60 price level.

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XRP Overtakes Bitcoin in Volume on Top 4 Korean Exchanges - The Crypto Basic

Texas-based Bitcoin mining companies may soon be without the financial incentives that have let the industry gain a strong competitive advantage in the Lone Star State.

Introduced earlier this month, Senate Bill 1751 seeks to protect the states electric grid during peak loads, with one proposed measure being the utility-scale.

A key provision of the bill is that it would restrict Bitcoin mining companies from participating in a state-run demand response program. This program rewards miners for giving power back to the grid when demand threatens to overwhelm the system unless the anticipated demand for electricity is less than 10 percent of the total load required by all loads in the program, the bill reads.

The bill would also bar "virtual currency mining from tax abatements given that the large scale of growth in virtual currency mining is already projected to occur in the state, said the bills sponsor Senator Lois Kolkhorst during Tuesday's testimony, adding that theres no need to subsidize that growth.

The Texas senator insisted that the bill is not a punitive one, but rather rightsizes for the industry that doesnt need that kind of assistance.

Sharing portions of his speech made during the same testimony with Decrypt, U.S. Blockchain Corp.'s chief commercial officer Matt Prusak said that his firm understands "that the goal of SB1751 is to ensure the responsible growth of the bitcoin mining industry in Texas. While we share this goal, we believe that the current proposal may have unintended consequences that could negatively impact both the mining sector and the broader energy market."

Riot Blockchain, one of the largest Texas-based Bitcoin mining companies that recently rebranded to Riot Platforms, has been a large beneficiary of the current incentives in Texas. Last Summer, it earned as much as $9.5 million in power credits after suspending operations during the heatwave.

Riots Rockdale Bitcoin mining facility, which is believed to be one of the largest in North America, has a total power capacity of 750 MW. The firm has also kicked off development for a large-scale 1 gigawatt (GW) development to expand its Bitcoin mining and hosting capabilities in Navarro County, with the initial 400 MW of capacity expected to begin in July 2023.

According to a recent Reuters report citing the Texas Blockchain Council president Lee Bratcher, Texas-based Bitcoin miners currently consume about 2,100 megawatts of the state's power supplies, up 75% over the last year.

Moreover, the latest power usage metric was almost triple that of the prior year, said Bratcher.

Data by ERCOT also shows that the Texas Bitcoin mining industrys power demand accounts for nearly 3.7% of the states lowest forecast peak load this year.

Those opposing the bill and taking part in the testimony included the Texas Blockchain Council president Lee Bratcher and the organizations director of Business Development Kristine Cranley, as well as Riots VP Pierre Rochard.

Bitcoin mining is uniquely capable of addressing the needs of the grid, unlike any other industry, because it is able to shut off in an instant and then come back relatively quickly, said Cranley.

Lee Bratcher stressed that the Bitcoin mining industry in Texas directly employs about 2,000 people across the state and another 20,000 people for indirect jobs, while also working closely with the ERCOT to ensure that miners are interconnecting responsibly.

Pierre Rochard also addressed the matter of cutting tax abatements for the industry, noting that these abatements have created hundreds of rural jobs.

U.S. Bitcoin Corp.'s Prusak told Decrypt that his firm "is committed to responsible growth and cooperation with regulators to ensure a sustainable future for both the bitcoin mining industry and Texas' energy infrastructure."

According to Rochard, Riot is currently the number one employer and the number one taxpayer in Rockdale.

Decrypt has reached out for comments to Riot Platforms and the Texas Blockchain Council and will update the article should we hear back.

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New Texas Senate Bill Seeks to Slash Bitcoin Mining Incentives - Decrypt

NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Almost one year ago, billionaire Peter Thiel threw $100 bills into the crowd from the stage at a cryptocurrency conference in Miami, likening fiat currency to toilet paper and touting bitcoin as the best alternative. Thiel has said that central banks are "bankrupt" and that the fiat money regime is coming to an end. Since his Miami proclamations, bitcoins price has fallen by nearly 40%, though in the last few weeks after Silicon Valley Banks failure it has had a resurgence. That suggests people think that Thiel is onto something. Those following his advice are sorely misled.

Thiels venture capital fund quietly dumped almost all its own holdings shortly before that Miami speech, according to the Financial Times. But others are buying. Former Andreessen Horowitz investor Balaji Srinivasan made a bet with a pseudonymous Twitter user last week that bitcoin would reach $1 million in the next three months while hyperinflation takes hold. At first glance, his prediction seems wildly optimistic but directionally reasonable bitcoin has surged by over 35% since SVBs collapse on March 10. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) and gold both rose less than 10%.

The philosophy behind that surge is that cryptocurrency will replace government-backed dollars. The trouble is bitcoin has benefitted precisely because of actions taken by central banks. The Federal Reserve, by the faith and good standing of the U.S. government, has stepped up to stabilize the system with new programs. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has also tempered his comments about plans to raise rates. Whats more, bitcoin may never have surpassed $60,000 to reach its highest-ever price level in 2021 had the Fed not kept interest rates consistently low. Its the prospect of lower rates not the lack of government stability that is opening the door to riskier bets like those on bitcoin.

The second snag is that contrary to Srinivasan and Thiels claims, bitcoin is too volatile to protect investors against inflation by preserving its purchasing power over long periods of time. U.S. inflation continues to spike even as the Fed raises rates. Gold is a tangible asset, unlike bitcoin, and thats precisely what makes it an inflation hedge. In theory, as the price for goods goes up, gold follows. If investors hope to inoculate their portfolios against a weakening dollar, they should heed Thiels actions, not his words.

Follow @AnitaRamaswamy on Twitter

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

CONTEXT NEWS

Bitcoins price has appreciated by over 35% since Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10, while the Nasdaq Composite Index has traded up less than 5% over the same period, according to data from Refinitiv. Bitcoins price is up nearly 70% in 2023.

Editing by Lauren Silva Laughlin and Sharon Lam

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

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Breakingviews - Bitcoin is a solution looking for a problem - Reuters.com

ZUG, Switzerland, March 30, 2023:Bitcoin Association for BSV is pleased to announce thatBitcoin SV (BSV) tokenis now available to trade onTransak, a leading global digital currency platform. The listing of BSV on Transak will provide users with easy access to the digital assets, enabling them to buy, store and sell BSV on a platform known for its convenience, security, and reliability in several major regions worldwide.

Transak is a U.K.-based developer integration service for web3 apps to support fiat-to-crypto deposits and withdrawals. It streamlines buying and selling digital assets, allowing mainstream users and businesses to access blockchain tokens. With its focus on providing a seamless user experience, Transak is available across 160 cryptocurrencies on 75+ blockchains via cards, bank transfers and other payment methods in 150 countries.

BSVs listing on Transak comes when more businesses and individuals embrace digital currencies for payment and investment. The new listing is a clear indication of BSVs continued growth. Designed to be more scalable and efficient, BSV is known for its fast-processing times and low transaction fees, making it an attractive option for businesses and individuals looking for a reliable and affordable payment system. BSV is well-positioned to become a leading player in the digital currency space.

Shawn Ryan, Director of Corporate Relationships Exchanges, Wallets, for the Bitcoin Association for BSV,said, We are thrilled to partner with Transak and to see BSV listed on their platform. This new listing provides more opportunities for BSV users to access and transact with digital currencies easily. We believe this will strengthen BSVs position in the digital currency market and reinforce our commitment to providing our users with a reliable and efficient payment system.

About Bitcoin Association for BSV

Bitcoin Association is a non-profit association (Verein) in Switzerland and the global industry organisation which advances Bitcoin SV (BSV). It brings together enterprises, start-up ventures, developers, merchants, exchanges, service providers, blockchain transaction processors (miners), and others in the Bitcoin SV ecosystem. The Association supports Bitcoin SV as the original Bitcoin, with a stable protocol and massive scaling roadmap to becoming the worlds new money and global blockchain for enterprise. The organisation seeks to build a regulation-friendly ecosystem that fosters lawful conduct while encouraging digital currency and blockchain innovation.

Lightning Sharks, on behalf of Bitcoin Association for BSV

Haris Khan, [emailprotected]. +44 (0) 7503 581 563

New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeksBitcoin for Beginnerssection, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoinas originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamotoand blockchain.

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Bitcoin SV is now listed on Transak.com - CoinGeek

Over the last few months, Bitcoin price has emerged as one of the best-performing assets in the entire crypto market, leaving behind Ethereum, other altcoins and even meme coins. The rally registered on the charts is making investors susceptible as to whether BTC will continue rising or if this is the end of the line.

Bitcoin price trading at $27,800 is very close to pushing beyond the $30,000 mark. The growth observed in the first quarter of the year neutralized the possibility of altcoins taking over the market. And if the same is observed over the next quarter, an alt season may have to wait longer.

An alt season is the period of time when altcoins perform and return better than Bitcoin does. Usually, an alt season occurs when the top 50 cryptocurrencies have better growth than Bitcoin in a 90-day period. Generally, an alt season comes after the biggest cryptocurrency in the world rallies as the capital gained in this period flows into altcoins.

Alt Season indicator

However, looking at the indicators, this may not be the case for now. This is because two of the most important cohorts of investors are favoring Bitcoin price rise at the moment. Bitcoin large wallet holders and institutional investors have been stacking up and investing in BTC over the last few weeks, lifting expectations of a rally.

Bitcoin whale holdings

The addresses holding 10 to 10,000 BTC have been growing over Q1, with some decline observed in the addresses holding 1,000 to 10,000 BTC.

Furthermore, institutional investors have also redirected their funds over the last week, with Bitcoin receiving the larger chunk of them. The week ending March 24 observed $127.5 million flowing into BTC, the highest since July 2022.

Bitcoin institutional inflows

Hence, the market is still in a Bitcoin season and will continue unless BTC fails to breach the critical resistance at $28,567, which has been the case for two weeks now. Flipping it into support would push Bitcoin price towards reclaiming $30,000.

BTC/USD 1-day chart

However, failing a breach would bring the price back down to the critical support level of $24,943. Losing it would lead to Bitcoin price touching the lows of $22,000 to $20,000.

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Alt season vs Bitcoin price beyond $30,000, here is what can happen in Q2 2023 - FXStreet

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against crypto trading platform Beaxy and its executives. Additionally, the regulator alleged that the cryptocurrency exchanges founder raised $8 million in an unregistered crypto token offering and misappropriated at least $900,000 for personal use, including gambling.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Wednesday that it has filed charges against crypto asset trading platform Beaxy, its founder, and its executives. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler commented:

We allege that Beaxy and its affiliates performed the functions of an exchange, broker, clearing agency, and dealer without registering with the Commission and complying with clear, time-tested rules governing those activities.

Besides alleging that Beaxy and its executives failed to register as a national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency, the securities watchdog said that it has charged the founder of the platform, Artak Hamazaspyan, and a company he controlled, Beaxy Digital Ltd., with raising $8 million in an unregistered offering of the Beaxy token (BXY).

The SEC alleged that Hamazaspyan misappropriated at least $900,000 for personal use, including gambling. The regulator also charged market makers operating on the Beaxy Platform as unregistered dealers.

In its complaint, the SEC claimed that Nicholas Murphy and Randolph Bay Abbot have been operating the Beaxy Platform since October 2019 through their management of Windy Inc. The SEC noted that the pair convinced Hamazaspyan to resign following the BXY offering.

Following the SEC enforcement action, Beaxy announced on its website: Regrettably, we are announcing the immediate suspension of services on Beaxy Exchange. Due to the uncertain regulatory environment surrounding our business, we have made the difficult decision to cease operations.

While emphasizing, We forthrightly committed to cooperation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for over two years, continually providing information, data, and interviews to assist regulators in whatever manner we could, the company stressed:

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, it has become clear that the regulatory environment is just too uncertain to continue operations.

What do you think about the SEC taking action against this crypto exchange, its founder, and its executives? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, lev radin

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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SEC Takes Action Against Crypto Trading Platform Beaxy and Its ... - Bitcoin News

Bitcoin (BTC) has maintained its position as the top digital asset since the inception of cryptocurrencies, achieving massive success in price growth and adoption despite phases of volatility. This success has led to other assets seeking to emulate the maiden crypto, with investors also on the lookout for the next big thing in the market.

In this regard, there are several cryptocurrencies that stand out as having strong potential for growth in the future. Therefore, here are five cryptocurrencies that could be poised for massive growth in 2023:

XRP has been gaining traction in recent weeks, and 2023 is considered one of the most monumental periods for the token on the grounds of adoption and regulatory development. The digital currency has seen a rise in adoption, with major financial institutions and banks starting to use the Ripple network for cross-border payments.

Meanwhile, the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has been touted to define the future of XRP. If the case is ruled in favor of Ripple, the move is expected to be bullish for the token.

By press time, XRP was trading at $0.48, continuing its weeklong gains. On the daily chart, XRP is up over 3%, while the token is up almost 25% in the last seven days.

Cardano (ADA) is positioning itself as an ecosystem for the future, aiming to establish itself in the decentralized finance (DeFi) world and take on entities such as Ethereum (ETH). In this line, the asset has witnessed increased on-chain development that is projected to impact the price of ADA positively.

The significance of the development is highlighted by the number of GitHub activities involving Cardano. For instance, as of March 2, Cardano ranked as the second cryptocurrency with the highest development activity on GitHub. At the same time, launching the Djed stablecoin on the network is considered a bullish element for Cardano. ADA is changing hands at $0.35 with daily losses of about 2%.

GRT is among the cryptocurrencies benefiting from the hype around artificial intelligence following the initial success of the chat-based tool ChatGPT. The interest has seen cryptocurrencies centered around the technology benefiting immensely with projections of continued gains as AI technology becomes engraved in daily life.

Besides building on the AI hype, GRT, which ranks among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, also offers a new approach to organizing and accessing blockchain data and can be leveraged for staking, payments, and earning fees for depositing it into a bonding curve and delegating to indexers.

The Graph network is also aiming to benefit from strategic partnerships such as the one established with Polygon (MATIC). Under the collaboration, The Graph integrated with Polygons ecosystem and selected it as the foundation for a new billing system.

The Graph is trading at $0.14 with weekly losses of about 10%.

Decentraland (MANA) is among the metaverse cryptocurrencies that gained momentum at the start of 2023, with investors showing a keen interest in these assets. Indeed, metaverse cryptos are unique in that they are coupled with decentralized blockchain virtual realities, where users can shape the environment and control how things are done. This feature is highly attractive to investors, as it allows them to participate in a virtual world that is user-driven, with decentralized governance and control.

As the metaverse scene evolves, MANA, as a pioneer digital asset in the space, is positioned to gain having unique attributes such as an existing virtual community. This capability gives Decentraland an advantage over other digital companies seeking to benefit from the virtual world.

Currently, MANA is trading at $0.58, having lost its value by over 2% in the last 24 hours. On the weekly chart, MANA is down 7%, with a market capitalization of $1.07 billion.

The meme cryptocurrency has gained investor interest despite the initial criticism of lacking utility. SHIBs potential lies in the fact that the community has rolled out initiatives aiming to make the token compete with established assets. One approach the Shiba Inu developers undertake is accelerating token burning and upgrading the network with a layer-2 scaling solution dubbed Shibarium, touted as a game-changer.

Shibariums innovative layer-2 solution has the potential to transform transaction processing by making it faster and more cost-effective. Once released, Shibarium is viewed to be a significant achievement for the Shiba Inu community and the broader cryptocurrency industry.

By press time, SHIB was trading at $0.00001072 with daily gains of over 1%.

Overall, the ability of the highlighted cryptocurrencies depends on other external factors, such as the general market movement and elements like regulations.

Disclaimer:The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.

Original post:

The next Bitcoin? 5 cryptocurrencies poised for massive growth in ... - Finbold - Finance in Bold

Deutsche WertpapierService Bank AG (dwpbank), a German securities processing giant that manages over 5.3 million securities accounts, has announced the launch of its new platform, wpNex, that enables over 1,200 affiliated banks to offer Bitcoin (BTC) trading to its retail customers.

According to the press release published on March 22, via the wpNex platform, crypto trading can be seamlessly integrated into the customers online banking experience. Customers can see their cryptocurrency holdings alongside their traditional securities, with no pre-funding necessary, Btc-echo.de reported.

Financial planning advisory corporation MLP Banking AG has taken advantage of the opportunity to become the first to offer crypto trading to its customers. Paul Utzat, MLP Bankings Head of Account and Securities Settlement, said that the service will be available to all retail customers in the second half of this year.

Furthermore, DZ Bank plans to offer a Bitcoin option for its customers by the end of the year, which can be seen as a solid step for Bitcoin establishment in Germany as this institution is the second largest bank in Germany by asset size with around 8,500 branch offices in the country.

In a tweet on March 24, Patrick Hansen, EU Strategy and Policy Director at Circle, a crypto-focused company behind the USDC stablecoin, noted that the move is great news for Bitcoins adoption.

As per the announcement, with the wpNex platform, dwpbank is setting the stage for Germany to become a major player in the world of crypto. The company has also clarified that other digital assets like tokenized securities will be added in the near future.

Dwpbanks move will potentially put pressure on other German banks and financial institutions to meet the growing demand for convenient access to crypto trading and investing.

Original post:

Over 1,200 German banks can now offer Bitcoin trading to their retail ... - Finbold - Finance in Bold