That was a crazy day for the price of Bitcoin. Some would say its an ordinary day, but as we wrote here in yesterdays price analysis, after sideways action in a tight range, the primary cryptocurrency had exploded.

After trading for the last few days between $6800 $7000, it first started with a deep below the critical $6600 support, whereas the daily low was around $6472 (Bitstamp), which is the next-mentioned support level we had stated here yesterday.

But it was only a quick glitch below the $6600 because, for the following hours, we saw Bitcoin trading safely above the crucial level.

Over the past two hours, we saw Bitcoin firing up from the $6600 price area to a current high at $7150 (Bitstamp). Thats roughly a $500 gain in just two hours. Business as usual for Bitcoin?

As of now, Bitcoin looks short-term bullish. However, we will have to see how the daily candle closes. Its crucial to see a daily close above the $7000 benchmark, along with the 50-days moving average line.

Looking at the momentum indicator, the RSI is now pointing up, hovering slightly above the 50 mark. Maintaining this level is also crucial for the short-term.

Besides, the daily Stochastic RSI oscillator had made a crossover at the oversold area and about to enter the neutral territory. This aligns with the bullish reversal.

From the bearish side, we will have to see Bitcoin holding this price area. As we learned about the recent era, the Bitcoin price is in correlation with the global stock markets. As of writing these lines, Wall Street futures trading over 1% in the green, which aligns with Bitcoin.

Total Market Cap: $200.5 billion

Bitcoin Market Cap: $128.6 billion

BTC Dominance Index: 64%

*Data by CoinGecko

Support/Resistance levels: Following the breakout of the $7K zone, along with the descending trend-line as can be seen on the following 4-hour chart, Bitcoin is now facing $7150 $7200 resistance as its first mission. Further above is the 10-day high at around $7400 $7500. The latter is the highest-level Bitcoin price had seen since the COVID-19 crisis had begun.

From below, the $7K now becomes the first level of support, together with the 50-days moving average line (marked pink). A little below lies $6800, followed by $6600.

The RSI Indicator: discussed above.

Trading volume: The declining volume had ended as expected with a crazy day like today. It will be interesting to see what the price and the volume level will be at the end of today.

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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.

Cryptocurrency chartsby TradingView.

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Bitcoin Price Analysis: The Storm Is Here Bitcoin Just Surged $550 In 90 Minutes To Over $7K, Whats Next? - CryptoPotato

Source: Adobe/promesaartstudio

Bitcoin payment processor BTCPay Server has added support for Pay to Endpoint (P2EP), a result of a workshop organized by Blockstream, a major, Canada-based blockchain company.

As Blockstream explains in their blog post, P2EP, aka PayJoin, is a special type of Coin Join, a method for combining multiple bitcoin (BTC) payments into a single transaction so to further preserve one's privacy. "P2EP transactions are special in that both the sender and the receiver of the payment coordinate to build the bitcoin transaction," says the company. "Unlike a regular bitcoin transaction, where only the sender spends from their wallet, a P2EP transaction packages up inputs from both the sender and the receiver, with the receiver sending extra bitcoins to themselves." It also comes with P2EP-enabled wallets.

Blockstream funded the development of the P2EP feature in BTCPay, saying that tens of thousands of merchants using BTCPay Server have the ability to receive P2EP transactions, giving them privacy as well. The payment processor implemented it as a part of their new version. Users can enable P2EP in the store or use BTCPays internal wallet to pay P2EP-enabled invoices, says BTCPay.

"A lot of time had passed with little progress on P2EP adoption as a common standard," writes Samson Mow, Blockstream's Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), "so we decided to jumpstart it with the BtcpayServer team." Mow's strategy, he writes, was to "create a pool of anchor tenants for BlockstreamGreen & other light wallet users to transact with."

Mow goes on to explain that their goal is to establish P2EP as a common standard across wallets and Bitcoin services. He also suggested not using the name 'Payjoin,' and for P2EP to be presented in simple terms as a technology to protect users' privacy. Lastly, he believes that this tech is "less politically charged," and that Bitcoiners may come in its support as well.

When using this tech, both the sender's and the receiver's wallets must be online, and it also requires a receiver hot wallet. There are, however, no 'fingerprints' left behind and this transaction will look like any ordinary BTC transaction, but with enabled two-way privacy.

Blockstream says it's working on adding support for P2EP in its BTC wallet Blockstream Green, which will likely be available in the coming months, while projects such as Wasabi Wallet and BlueWallet are also possibly looking into supporting P2EP, the company says.

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BTCPay Brings Two-Way Bitcoin Privacy To Thousands of Merchants - Cryptonews

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With the S&P 500s volatility growing to level that of Bitcoin, we thought you may be interested in some original data and insights from CryptoCompare showing how digital asset markets are riding out the storm.

Below, were looking into how top cryptocurrencies are performing compared to the US markets benchmark index.

Bitcoins Volatility Declines

We are seeing a flight to safety and the ultimate sanctuary in this climate has been the US dollar drawing capital from emerging market countries with those whose economies are reliant on natural resources left especially vulnerable.

The Fed printing dollars to have a balance sheet of over $6 trillion as well as the IMF offering SDRs means that the dollar supply is going up.

The charts below are showingthat the crypto market is down more than the S&P which is off its peak by 20%. Volatility shows the clustering effect and correlation amongst cryptocurrencies with 7-day volume sharply jumping.

The Bitcoin volume jump is not as bad as the CryptoCompare MVIS 5 index which itself has less volatility than the CryptoCompare MVIS 25 Index.

Inflation Is Coming

When the tide goes out, all boats sink and thats what we have seen in this initial phase of the crisis. Bitcoin and digital currencies have been affected to a similar degree in the short term like traditional equity markets. But in the mid to long term, we might see some shifts when investors start to look at future scenarios as the dust settles. One thing is clear inflation is coming. So TIPs, gold and utilities are the traditional ports of call Bitcoin also fits the mold.

Highly leveraged companies will be in trouble in the short term without the ability to pass through rising costs. So the S&P will be a mixed bag where some companies will be caught with declining margins and others with demand rebounds and the Feds cash injection stimulating demand will have the ability to pass through their costs and increase revenues.

Bitcoin could see some use in cross-border transactions as we start to see emerging market currencies fail. The strong draw to the dollar will see increased restrictions on capital flows that will compel some citizens to look for other routes to preserve and move wealth. Higher sovereign risk premia and ratings downgrades are on the cards.

What Is Money?

This crisis is raising the question of what exactly is money governments are being forced to open the doors to modern monetary theory (MMT) which removes the mirage of fiat. It might be difficult to go back from this unveiling, but what choice do governments have? There are the ghosts of Hayek and Keynes in these arguments.

Under these circumstances, we may see a shift to assets that cannot be perpetually diluted instead of papering over the cracks. For the moment, cash is the only port in the storm but that may prove to be a false hope in the mid to long term.

Its risk-off across the markets. Bitcoin is still novel and is great as a means of transferring value quickly, person to person, but bad at holding value. The theory is that, with time, this will change, but quite clearly, it has nascent, fragmented markets at present and isnt fulfilling the digital gold story.

Charles Hayter, co-founder and CEOCryptocompare.com

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Craig Wactor

Continued here:

With Inflation on the Way, Bitcoin (BTC) Could Soon Stand Out: CryptoCompare - The Daily Hodl

a longer version of this blog post is available on the MIT Media Labs Digital Currency Initiative platform

With Google Trends data showing that searches for the word blockchain have exponentially increased, we may be entering the peak of the hype cycle for blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

But heres the thing: the blockchainisa major breakthrough. Thats because its decentralized approach to verifying changes in important information addresses the centuries-old problem oftrust, a social resource that is all too often in short supply, especially amid the current eras rampant concerns over the security of valuable data. It turns out that fixing that can be a boon for financial inclusion and other basic services delivery, helping to achieve the global objectives laid out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sorting out hype from reality may depend on how well we identify where institutions that have until now played a role in mediating trust between people are falling short, especially in the key area of money. Deploying the blockchain in those settings to generate secure, decentralized trust could achieve great strides in inclusion and innovation.

What do we mean by decentralized trust? The concept is unfamiliar in part because its converse -- centralized trust is something that we often take for granted, at least while its working. But if we look at the history of transactions since the early barter systems to modern-day digital money exchanges, we can see how differenttrust protocolsfor keeping track of our exchanges of value have evolved and how, in each case, centralizing trust within particular institutions has periodically caused problems.As strategies for dealing with this challenge evolved and as the complexity and frequency of transactions grew, differenttrust bearersemerged. We went from relying on the memory and discretion of tribal leaders, to central governments issuing currencies in the form of precious metals, to commercial banks acting astrusted intermediariesand issuing their own bank notes, to central banks managing a hybrid system in which sovereign fiat banknotes circulate alongside a debt/credit form of money managed by regulated banks and internal ledgers.

We are now at another moment when societys trust in the trust bearers is being challenged again. The cause: the 2008 crisis best viewed as a breakdown in publictrustin the banks role as ledger-keepers and the constant reports of hacking attacks at financial institutions. The difference is that this time the entire notion of centralized trust is being questioned.

This is where the blockchain and distributed public ledgers come in. We now have the prospect of supplanting those risk-ladentrust bearerswith a more robust, decentralized model. This kind of ledger, shared among a network of autonomous computers, which confirm and validate its content by following a unique algorithm that compels them to act in the common interest, and secured with powerful cryptography, is essentially tamper-proof. Its the nearest thing weve ever had to an immutable ledger.

Currency exchanges are the first use case for this technology. But the topics discussed at this past weeksBlockchain Summit on Necker Island reveal a dizzying array of non-currency applications as well. The blockchains disintermediating potential is being tried out for securities settlement, property titles, digital rights, trade finance, supply chains, auditing, voting, solar microgrids, notary and legal services, and the big one, digital identity. Much of this has the potential to leapfrog billions of people into a new era in parallel to the way that mobile phones helped them leapfrog over landlines.

As with all early-stage technology, there are challenges. The underlying infrastructure needs to be scalable and more versatile, but achieving consensus to make such changes is difficult in an open-source work environment. Theres a garbage-in risk that inaccurate information gets permanently inserted into a blockchain. Also, the immutability and irreversibility of transactions might make it harder for individuals and firms to arbitrate solutions whenever theres a dispute. Meanwhile, a vivid debate continues over what kind of blockchain communities should use and when: a public, permissionless blockchain like bitcoin, or a private blockchain in which only permissioned actors maintain the ledger, such as those which various banks are developing. Theres a big public interest in answering these questions.

Amid the rapid pace of open-source fintech innovation, its hard to imagine that distributed ledger technology isnt coming, one way or another. When it arrives, the impact on society could be profound. It is therefore critical that governments engage their citizens and each other in serious discussion about the underlying trust infrastructure of 21st century digital society.

Its too early to know the answers. Thats why its incumbent upon all of us to study and understand how to maximize the benefits of this technology to attain better development outcomes and reach the SDGs. The World Bank and MIT Media Lab could help foster this understanding. With serious research, we can discover the best ways to use this technology to lower costs and increase access to financial services while protecting the social capital thats vital for economic development. Within this, we must keep in mind the unprecedented competition and challenges facing incumbent financial institutions and regulators. If we get this transformation right, and do so in a collective, collaborative manner, it could provide a vital building block for achieving the global communitys SDGs.

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Blockchain technology: Redefining trust for a global ...

Will bitcoin (BTC) move beyond "digital gold"? Is ether (ETH) viable as money? In 24 charts, CoinDesk Research shows what happened to crypto assets in Q1 2020 and examines what may emerge in the future. Download our Q1 analysis here, and join us on April 15 for a webinar discussing our findings and other relevant cryptocurrency research.

The CoinDesk Quarterly Review provides research-based insights on how the narrative has changed for blue-chips such as bitcoin and ether. We look at which assets outperformed on returns, and how the participants in crypto markets are shifting in the wake of Q1s defining event, the March 12 plunge.

Bitcoins digital gold narrative grew up in a bull market in everything. Bitcoin as gold 2.0, a hedge against inflation and a safe haven in an eventual crash, was a meme investors readily understood.

Now, weve seen an economic crisis cause dislocation in crypto markets and push bitcoins price downward in tandem with stocks. Gold and Treasury bonds appeared to have failed to live up to safe haven expectations. If golds narrative is being debated, do we still know what digital gold means? At the very least, the events of the past month have put to rest the notion that bitcoin today can be a haven.

How March 12 shook crypto markets, and how it didn't

The crash shook participants in crypto markets. Open interest in bitcoin futures and perpetual swaps fell off a cliff in March. These markets are used by traders large and small to speculate on bitcoins price, and as a temporary hedge against positions in the spot market. Futures volume spiked and settled at a higher baseline, as it did in spot markets. The increased activity is taking place in a shrunken market. About $1.6 billion of traders positions were liquidated over two days in March. The sharks are eating each other in a smaller pool, as it were.

At the very least, the events of the past month have put to rest the notion that bitcoin today can be a haven.

Bitcoin's long-term holdings, however, remained unmoved. Hodlwaves use Bitcoin timestamps known as UTXOs to measure how long each bitcoin has been held. Tracking time between transactions is a useful measure of long-term buy-and-hold activity. That activity is consistent with bitcoins use case as digital gold, a putative store-of-value. Note that long-term holdings (180 days or more) did not change perceptibly during the March 12 crash. Balances held between 90 days and 180 days shifted abruptly. Were bitcoin sellers concentrated among three- to six-month holders? Or were exchange balances, which shifted on these dates, concentrated in that band?

Alternative user narratives: Return of payments?

Some of bitcoin's long-term holders are surely hoping in time it will prove itself as a haven or store of value. But events such as the March crash open the door to new narratives. The flagship crypto assets next meme will set the adoption curve for verifiably scarce digital assets. Will payments re-emerge as an avenue to adoption?

Since launch, the number of computers running the Lightning Network has increased on average 53 percent every quarter. Lightning is a layer two payments system built on top of the Bitcoin network. The value held within Lightning payment channels has also increased.

New importance for bitcoin and ethereum technical road maps

It's possible a new user adoption narrative will be something quite different from what long-term investors in bitcoin have contemplated to date. Will Bitcoin developers add capabilities like Schnorr signatures, with their privacy and programmability that lead to its adoption as digital financial infrastructure?

The technical road map emerges from Q1 2020 with increased importance for ethereum, as well. Ether evangelists have spread the meme ETH is money" in the belief that it has potential as the base currency of a decentralized, digital banking system, dubbed decentralized finance" or "DeFi." The failure of flagship DeFi systems during the March 12 crash have raised questions about that narrative. Now more than ever it seems to be dependent on a relatively uncertain road map for ETH 2.0, an improvement designed to allow more transaction throughput.

On March 12, total ETH locked in DeFi applications increased as expected, then crashed amid a crisis in DeFis programmatic governance. If ETH is money," wed expect to see the amount locked in DeFi and the ETH price grow in tandem, long-term. For the near term, a recovery to previous levels would indicate a restoration of confidence in DeFi systems.

The CoinDesk Quarterly Review lays out a Q1 analysis of what happened to crypto assets in the quarter. It begins to examine what will emerge now that the digital gold story has been shaken. Download it here, and join us April 15 for a webinar discussing our findings.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Cryptocurrency Review: Bitcoin, Ether and 'Digital Gold' - CoinDesk

After multiple failed attempts, bitcoin (BTC) has finally broken above key resistance, bringing a boost to the short-term bullish case.

The top cryptocurrencyby market value closed (UTC) well above $7,100 on Wednesday, marking an upsidebreak of the 200-period moving average on the three-day chart.

The breakout could now invite stronger chart-driven buying, as a move above the long-term technical line is often considered a confirmation of a bearish-to-bullish trend change.

The 200-period average had repeatedly capped upside in the final days of March. Now that the hurdle has been convincingly crossed, buyers who entered the market earlier this month may also be more comfortable in holding their positions. All in all, the move is a good signal for prices.

The risk-on action seen in traditional markets is also supportive of further gains for bitcoin. Major European indices like Germanys DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE are currently reporting slight gains. Asian stocks also rose early on Thursday following an overnight surge on Wall Street.

The sentiment seems to have been buoyed by reports that the U.S. and European nations are discussing plans to reopen their respective economies at the start of May.Most countries imposed lockdowns of varying degrees of severity in March in order to contain the coronavirus outbreak, negatively impacting commerce.

At press time, bitcoin is changing hands near $7,340, representing a 0.80 percent increase on a 24-hour basis., according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index. That's well above the 200-period average at $7,093.

The cryptocurrency has recovered by more than $3,400 from the low of $3,867 reached during the early Asian trading hours on March 13 and is now just $700 short of levels near $8,000 seen ahead of the price crash seen March 12.

Three-day chart

Bitcoin repeatedly failed to cross the 200-period average hurdle in the three weeks to April 5, weakening the immediate bullish case and raising the odds of a price pullback.

However, the breakout confirmed by the previous green candle, representing price action for April 6-9, indicates that the rally from lows below $4,000 has resumed.

The MACD histogram, an indicator used to identify trend strength and trend changes, has crossed above zero, signaling a bearish-to-bullish trend change. Further, the Chaikin money flow index is hovering above zero a sign buying pressure is outweighing selling pressure.

All in all, there is a strong case to believe bitcoin will test psychological resistance at $8,000 in the short-term.

Daily chart

Bitcoin is trapped in an ascending price channel, as seen above.

Mondays green marubozu candle, which marked a breakout above $7,000, points to bullish market sentiment. The five- and 10-day averages are trending north, indicating strong upward momentum.

The only cause for concern for the bulls is a decline in trading volumes. A low-volume rally often ends with a notable price drop.

That said, the bias will turn bearish only if prices drop below $6,773 (horizontal line). That would invalidate the marubozu candle created on April 6 and open the doors for a pullback to $5,856 (March 30 low).

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Excerpt from:

Bitcoin's Bull Case Strengthens After Breaching Price Hurdle at $7.1K - CoinDesk

Bitcoin (BTC) braved less volatile but choppy trading on April 9 as the United States Federal Reserve flooded markets with trillions in dollars.

Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360

Data from Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets showed BTC/USD still keeping within a tight $400 corridor between $7,100 and $7,410 as the week continued.

A sudden dip to $7,110 formed the most volatile feature of the past 24 hours. At press time, Bitcoin traded at around $7,325.

Bitcoin 1-day price chart. Source: Coin360

The largest cryptocurrency appeared broadly unfazed by the announcement of a fresh stimulus package from the Fed worth $2.3 trillion.

In a press release, the central bank said that its aim was to support the economy as the U.S. coronavirus death toll reached 14,800.

Board Chair Jerome H. Powell said:

The Fed's role is to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity, and our actions today will help ensure that the eventual recovery is as vigorous as possible.

The cash injection comes just weeks after a giant $6 trillion liquidity tsunami from the Fed, a sum so large that it equals the entire U.S. GDP from 1990. Earlier on Thursday, Cointelegraph reported that U.S. national debt was at a historic high of $24 trillion.

While markets were also buoyed by the potential for a cut in oil production after Thursdays OPEC+ meeting, among Bitcoin analysts, the mood was overwhelmingly bearish.

Despite rising around 8% in a week, Bitcoin, like traditional markets, was unlikely to sustain its trajectory, Cointelegraph Markets Michal van de Poppe warned.

The price of $BTC is slowly grinding upwards, but volume is decreasing, he wrote in a Twitter post on Thursday.

The $6,900 shorters got stopped out & flipped long, while the $7,700-8,000 shorters are waiting. More and more people turning bullish, giving me indication that liquidity is beneath us. Lets see.

Popular commentator Looposhi was more damning, writing:

I just think it's cute how some of you about to burn their account over some textbook sh*t. Let me be very clear. THIS IS A #Bitcoin SUCKER RALLY!

Meanwhile, U.S. jobless claims totaled over 6 million for a second week, van de Poppe agreeing with the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, that coronavirus would create the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

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Bitcoin Price Ignores $2.3T Fed Cash as Pundit Warns of Sucker Rally - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin price (BTC) is currently in a sort of stasis, unexcitedly trading in the expected range and over the past 48-hours dropping to the former rising wedge trendline at $7,150 and again to the $7,200 support before rebounding to the low $7,400 region.

Crypto market daily price chart. Source: Coin360

For the time being, the price is consolidating within the $7,200 to $7,460 range. The next thing bulls will be looking for is for BTC price to push above the recent high to set a higher-high above $7,663 before launching a move toward $7,992, where the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement currently resides.

BTC USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

Anyone taking a quick glance at crypto Twitter will notice analysts calling for traders to go short from $8,000-$8,100 as the 100 and 200 day-MA are in this zone and expected to function as stiff resistance levels.

This is possibly due to the fact that since March 13 Bitcoin price has gained approximately 95%. But before any of this can be achieved Bitcoin needs to turn the $7,350 to $7,400 region to support.

For the time being, traders continue to buy on the dips and a glance at exchange order books show traders are quite interested in buying at prices below $7,200.

BTC USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The 4-hour timeframe shows that while the price consolidates, the volume is tapering off and this is a hint that Bitcoin is beginning to lose momentum. The moving average convergence divergence histogram has also turned negative and the relative strength index has dropped slightly below 60. The ailing volume and sideways price action also increase the chance of BTC/USD falling below the $7,200 support to $6,900, then $6,750.

Bitcoin price is now facing a few outcomes, with the bias currently tilted towards bears. Simply put, an increase in purchasing volume is needed to break through the current range and rise toward the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement at $7,992.

The alternate scenario involves Bitcoin losing the $7,200 support and as the price drops to retest lower supports investors will have no choice but to see if the interest currently represented in the orderbook manifests into buying at key support levels to prevent a drop to $5,800.

3 day BTC USDT MACD chart. Source: TradingView

Taking a look at the higher time frames gives some encouragement. On the 3-day chart, investors will notice that the MACD line is about to pull above the signal line and the histogram is just now printing a green bar above 0.

Weekly BTC USDT MACD chart. Source: TradingView

On the weekly timeframe, the MACD is slowly beginning to curve up toward the signal line and although the histogram remains negative, the color of the candles has shifted from red to pink. The weekly RSI is also rising above 46 but it is not yet in bullish territory.

More importantly, we can see that the price is drawing closer to an important pivot point and the same can be said for $8,100.

BTC USDT 1-week chart. Source: TradingView

In summary, at the moment theres not much chop to trade for day traders as the risk seems greater than the reward right now. Traders will likely wait for one of the following three scenarios:

Another thing worth remembering is that Bitcoins halving is about 35 days away but with the coronavirus pandemic and current state of global economic affairs it's possible that the halving will be something of a disappointment particularly, when it comes to short-term price action just like the Bitcoin Cash halving was on Wednesday.

Whatever trade you choose, be sure to use a stop-loss.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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3 Options for Traders as Bitcoin Price Is on the Verge of a Breakout - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors are feeling bullish after a rocky start to the year.

The bitcoin price, trading more-or-less flat for 2020 so far, had rocketed in the first few months of the new decade but its rally was halted in its tracks by the coronavirus crisis.

Now, as bitcoin bulls eye the upcoming bitcoin halvingamong other major developments on the horizonformer hedge fund billionaire-turned crypto investor, Michael Novogratz, has bet that bitcoin will outperform almost every other market over the next few months.

Michael Novogratz, a Wall Street veteran, has become one of bitcoin and cryptocurrency's richest ... [+] people in recent years, making a name for himself as an outspoken bitcoin bull.

"Ill make a bet for dinner anywhere in New York City that bitcoin outperforms both [gold and treasuries] over the next three months," Novogratz said via Twitter, replying to a report that all major currencies are outperforming bitcoin since the stock market peak, with gold and treasury bonds doing even better.

Tech investor and founder of bitcoin and cryptocurrency news and analysis website The Block, Mike Dudas, responded he is on the same side of that bet as Novogratz "with more of [his] net worth than would make any sane person comfortable."

"Give it a few months ... And I like gold," Novogratz added.

Bitcoin has so far failed to act as a so-called safe-haven asset during the coronavirus crisis despite hopes it had begun to do so over the last year.

Traders and investors usually turn to "safe" assets such as gold and the Japanese yen during times of perceived risk.

Last month, Novogratz warned confidence in bitcoin and crypto "evaporated" due to the coronavirus crash, potentially leaving bitcoin and crypto vulnerable.

Earlier this year, Novogratz said he expected the bitcoin price to soar by almost 50-fold over the next ten years, meaning he thought one bitcoin will be worth a staggering $400,000 by 2030and giving bitcoin a market capitalization of around $8 trillion.

Meanwhile, many bitcoin and cryptocurrency supporters have voiced concerns thatthe massive stimulus and quantitative easing unleashed by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve will weaken the dollar and the U.S. economy.

Extraordinary measures have been put in place by countries around the world to prop up markets and try to spur economic activity as they scramble to contain the coronavirus COVID-19.

The bitcoin price has treaded water for 2020 so far despite swinging wildly along with traditional ... [+] markets due to the coronavirus crisis.

In the aftermath of the coronavirus-induced market crash, some of the biggest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges around the world have reported an uptick in both new users and trading volume.

Some have suggested surging bitcoin demand could result in a bull run to rival bitcoin's epic 2017 rallythat saw the bitcoin price climb from under $1,000 to around $20,000 in less than 12 months.

Ahead of the world going into shutdown to try to contain the coronavirus, bitcoin investors were upbeat at the beginning of the year,a survey of high-level bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange users showed last month,with most expecting the bitcoin price to soar to over $20,000 per bitcoin in 2020.

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Former Hedge Fund Billionaire Picks Bitcoin Over Gold, Treasuries And The Dollar - Forbes

The startup behind the bitcoin-friendly shopping app Fold just joined the Visa Fast Track Program to issue a card that offers bitcoin rewards instead of traditional reward points.

Fold founder Will Reeves said an email poll of roughly 30,000 Fold users revealed 90 percent said they would switch spending away from their existing card for a card with bitcoin (BTC) rewards for dollars spent. The waiting list is now open for the Fold card that starts shipping in July.

You manage everything within [the Fold app], your card details, your rewards, Reeves said in an interview. Were able to send out to your [bitcoin] wallet of choice. You dont have to wait to accrue too much of it [bitcoin].

There are already several companies offering Visa cards so bitcoiners can spend cryptocurrency as dollars, including Coinbase, and options for shopping on desktop with most cards for bitcoin rewards, with the browser-plugin Lolli.

Both Lolli and Fold App have seen a dramatic increase in online shopping for essentials and home equipment since the coronavirus crisis hit the United States. Fold users are buying more gift cards for Amazon and Target, while Lolli shoppers are spending more at Sams Club, Vitacost, Best Buy and Newegg, according to Lollis head of communications, Aubrey Strobel.

Weve seen an uptick in volume the entire month, Reeves said of the 24,000 transactions by Fold users in Q1 2020. That represents a 110 percent increase over Q4 2019, with thousands of new users. Across the board, companies that help retail users accrue bitcoin have generally performed well during the broader market turndown.

The goal of this new card is to meet consumers where theyre at, Reeves said, giving users the ability to accrue and use bitcoin in their daily lives.

Fold investor Meltem Demirors once owned one of the first bitcoin-affiliated cards, a Shift debit card for spending bitcoin. She said Folds new product is unique because the card enables people to earn rather than spend bitcoin.

The capital gains [taxes] for [spending] are just such a pain, Demirors said. Ive been spending [dollars] nonstop with Fold.

Users can already shop directly through the app and earn rewards for using the Lightning Network option, for example, while they wait for the Visa program to roll out later this year. Users can choose to spend bitcoin with this feature, but most seem to prefer spending dollars for bitcoin rewards. The average transaction size in Q1 2020 was $55, according to Reeves.

Fold certainly wont be the last team to explore bitcoin-related credit cards. When asked if the exchange Kraken was exploring a Visa card program like Coinbase or Fold, Kraken bitcoin strategist Pierre Rochard answered, Were always looking to better serve our customers.

NFL player and Fold investor Russell Okung said in a press release the Fold Visa card now represents a significant step towards mainstream adoption of Bitcoin. In the press release, Visa Global Head of Fintech Terry Angelos said Fold joined a program that offers unprecedented access to Visa experts, technology, and resources.

Update (April 9, 15:21 UTC): The new offering from Fold isnt a credit card. Its a debit card but has the rewards levels youd expect from a credit card, Fold CEO Will Reeves said after publication of this article.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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This Visa Card Gives Bitcoin Rewards on Dollars Spent - CoinDesk

Forbes 2020 list of global billionaires, which names Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the worlds wealthiest person, includes five cryptocurrency pioneers with ties to Bitcoin (BTC) and the digital assets industry: Bitmain founders Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong and Square Crypto founder Jack Dorsey.

Zhan is the wealthiest crypto entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion. He was ousted from Bitmain, the largest maker of cryptocurrency-mining computers, in October of 2019, but remains the largest shareholder of the company.

Chris Larsen is the second wealthiest crypto entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion. He sits as executive chairman of global payments network Ripple. He also co-founded the online mortgage lender e-Loan and peer-to-peer lender Prosper.

Wu is the chairman of Bitmain and owns 20% of the company. In 2019, he co-founded crypto financial services startup Matrixport. His estimated net worth is $1.8 billion.

Armstrong is the chief executive of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. His personal worth has reached an estimated $1 billion.

Dorsey co-founded Twitter and Square. With an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion, he launched Square Crypto last year, transforming Square and its popular Cash App by facilitating sales of Bitcoin, which he believes can become the internets native currency.

Although Changpeng CZ Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is not included on the Forbes list, he ranks number one among crypto billionaires in the Hurun Global Rich List 2020 released earlier this year.

Trailing Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, the top Forbes 2020 billionaires are Microsoft founder Bill Gates, luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

In ninth place, Walmart heiress Alice Walton is the worlds richest woman and the only female billionaire in the top 10, with an estimated net work of $54.4 billion. At age 22, Kylie Jenner tops the list of the worlds youngest billionaires with an estimated net worth of $1 billion.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/tankist276

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Wealthiest Man in Bitcoin (BTC) and Crypto Is Now Worth $3.2 Billion Heres the New Rich List - The Daily Hodl

The new and now often-cited connection between bitcoin (BTC) and global equities doesnt just mean they fall together.

Sometimes, it means they rally on potentially good news. And that seems to be the case on Monday, as positive data on the war on the coronavirus offer hope to the markets that better days may come soon.

The price of bitcoin is at $7,145 as of 13:45 UTC (8:45 a.m. Eastern time), a 5 percent gain from the previous 24 hours. The move began during Asian equity market trading hours as Japans Nikkei index moved up 4.2 percent. Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average also had some sunshine around then, indicating a more than 700-point gain when New York traders heard their opening bell.

Part of that optimism in stock markets and in cryptocurrencies stems from a few glimmers of hope on the coronavirus front.

Looks like we're piggybacking on equities with some data possibly indicating virus peaking coming out of a few of the European countries, said Dave Vizsolyi, head of trading at Chicago-based proprietary crypto trading firm DV Chain.

To be sure, cryptocurrency markets often gyrate with little rhyme or reason, and an original selling point of bitcoin was as a non-correlated asset, indifferent to movements in traditional markets. However, during the recent crisis, the bellwether digital asset has tended to track the incumbents.

Daily new cases are slowing in places like Italy, where they have stayed in the 4,000 range since March 30; at its peak on March 21, over 6,500 new cases were reported. New York, the hardest-hit state in the U.S., saw a slight drop in coronavirus-related deaths; 4,159 lives were lost in the Empire State so far, but Sunday saw the first daily drop in fatalities since the crisis began.

Thats not to say the week promises to be easy on the UnitedStates, where there are more than 300,000 cases, a quarter of the worlds total.

This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of mostAmericans lives, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams saidon Fox News over the weekend. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment,our 9/11 moment, only its not going to be localized. Its going to behappening all over the country.

However, his commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, took a more glass-half-full approach, proclaiming in all-caps LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL on his preferred method of communication, Twitter.

Nonetheless, some in the crypto markets arent sold on the idea that the worst is behind us.

Paxos exchange CEO Chad Cascarilla warned of a grim picture on Patrick OShaughnessys podcast, Invest Like the Best, if fiscal and monetary stimulus prove too little, too late.

Cascarilla sees about a 25 percent chance the U.S. would need a bank holiday similar to what happened in the Great Depression and even some nationalization in its financial sector.

It looks likely that were in a depression for at least aquarter or two, Cascarilla said. If youre in that for more than two quarters,I think you need to have bank failures. The market would have a really hardtime digesting that. If we need to fill a $6 trillion hole, Im not sure we cando that in time before the feedback loops kick in. And then you can end up witha bank holiday and nationalization.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Bitcoin, Stock Markets Rally on Signs of Hope in Pandemic - CoinDesk

Markets:

BTC/USD is changing hands at $7,380. The coin has stayed mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Thursday as the bullish momentum has faded away on approach to $7,400. Currently, BTC is moving within a short-term bearish trend amid low volatility.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $170.90. The second-largest coin recovered from the Asian low of $168.42, though it is still 1.3% lower from the start of the day. ETH/USD is moving in a short-term bearish trend amid low volatility.

XRP/USD is hovering below critical $0.2000, down 1.2% since the beginning of the day. The coin is mostly range-bound with short-term bullish bias.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Gold (BTG) $9.94 (+17.6%), Seele (SEELE) $0.0747 (+13.9%) and Aave (LEND) $0.0253 (+13.5%) are in the green zone. The day's losers are Maker (MKR) $326.9 (-4.7%), Synthetix Network Token (SNX) $0.7399 (-4.3%), HedgeTrade (HEDGE) $1.84 (-3.25%).

Chart of the day:

ETH/USD, 30-min chart

Markets

Ripple's co-founder and former chief technical officer Jed McCaleb received 63.7 million XRP tokens worth $12.3 million under the agreement between McCaleb and Ripple. According to the data provided by the Whale Alert Twitter service, the tokens were transferred by McCaleb's former employer.

Also, the experts of the service noted that the coins transferred under this agreement are usually sold for fiat. If the theory is correct, XRP may experience a selling pressure in the nearest future.

Industry

Bitcoin Association Switzerland launched Bitcoin backed token tzBTC on Tezos blockchain. The company says that the new coin will allow to use Tezos blockchain features with Bitcoin.

Today, the Bitcoin Association Switzerland (BAS), together with the involved companies, announces yet another way to use Bitcoin: tzBTC, a token on the Tezos blockchain-backed 1-1 by Bitcoin. With Bitcoin being the de facto reserve-currency of cryptocurrencies, tzBTC is one of the first examples of tokenization on Tezos. It enables the use of the Tezos blockchain features with Bitcoin.

Notably, Tezos Foundation is one of the largest Bitcoin holders, which makes its blockchain a natural choice for Bitcoin-backed token.

Four cryptocurrency gurus made their way to Forbes List of Billionaires. Micree Zhan, the head of Chinese mining company Bitmain, is the richest crypto entrepreneur with $3.2 bln in his coffers. He is followed by former Ripple's CEO Chris Larsen ($2.6 bln) and Jihan Wu from Bitmain ($1.8 billion).

80% of Swiss cryptocurrency startups went bust due to the coronavirus crisis, according to a survey conducted by the Swiss Blockchain Federation. The report says that the Swiss blockchain industry has been having rough times even before COVID-19 became an issue.

The industry does not qualify for the financial aid promised by Swiss government, which puts may companies on the brink of extinction. over half of them said that they had already laid off staff, while 90% admitted that lay-offs are inevitable in the nearest future.

Regulation

Justice Gendall in the High Court of New Zealand declined creditor claims and confirmed that the digital assets on the balance of the liquidated cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia belong to the customers of the exchange.

Today, 8 April 2020, Justice Gendall delivered his judgment finding firstly, cryptocurrencies are property within the definition outlined in s2 of the Companies Act 1993 and secondly, that account holders' cryptocurrency was held on multiple trusts, separated by individual crypto-asset type. This means that the cryptocurrencies are beneficially owned by the account holders and are not assets of the company.

Effectively, those digital assets cannot be classified as a loan and be included in the bankrupt assets.

Link:

Crypto Today: Bitcoin bulls get ready for a weekend run to $8,000 - FXStreet

Travelex paid hackers $2.3 million worth of Bitcoin BTC to regain access to its computer systems after a devastating ransomware attack on New Years Eve, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The London-based company said it decided to pay the 285 BTC based on the advice of experts, and had kept regulators and partners in the loop throughout the recovery process.

Although Travelex, which manages the worlds largest chain of money exchange shops and kiosks, did confirm the ransomware attack when it happened, it hadnt yet disclosed aBitcoin ransom had been paid to restore its systems.

Travelex previously blamed the attack on malware known as Sodinokibi, a Ransomware-as-a-Service tool-kit that has recently begun publishing data stolen from companies that dont pay up.

Travelex operations were crippled for almost all of January, with its public-facing websites, app, and internal networks completely offline. It also reportedly interrupted cash deliveries to major banks in the UK, including Barclays and Lloyds.

At the time, BBC claimed that Travelex attackers had demanded $6 million worth of Bitcoin to unlock its systems.

Investigations into the identity of the attackers continue, spearheaded by Londons metropolitan police.

Published April 9, 2020 17:01 UTC

Excerpt from:

Travelex paid $2.3M in Bitcoin to get its systems back from hackers - The Next Web

Bitcoin has rebounded this week, climbing along with gold and other safe-havens as major stock markets struggle.

The bitcoin price is up just over 2% over the last weekmaking strong gains yesterday as investors search for somewhere to put their cash.

However, one major cryptocurrency has outpaced bitcoin's gains over the last week and is still rocketing higher.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors have been hard hit by the coronavirus crisis but the bitcoin ... [+] price has begun to climb again this week--outpaced by just a handful of smaller cryptocurrencies.

The privacy-focused cryptocurrency monero, currently ranked as the 11th most valuable cryptocurrency on data site CoinMarketCap with a total value of just under $1 billion, has added almost 5% in the past weekbeating bitcoin's gains.

Monero, which masks the identity of users better than the likes of bitcoin, is up by over 6% over the last 24-hour trading period, soaring as the broader cryptocurrency market climbed.

The precise reason for monero's sudden surge wasn't immediately clear, though there have been a number of positive developments for the bitcoin rival over recent months.

Monero developers recently rolled out an update to its Carbon Chameleon software, designed to improve transaction execution and how the cryptocurrency works with the privacy networks Tor and I2P.

Monero and privacy coins have also recently gained support from some high profile figures in the tech and crypto industry.

"I think well also see privacy integrated into one of the dominant chains in the 2020s," Coinbase's chief executive Brian Armstrong wrote in a blog post back in January.

"Just like how the internet launched with HTTP, and only later introduced HTTPS as a default on many websites, I believe well eventually see a privacy coin or blockchain with built in privacy features get mainstream adoption in the 2020s. It doesnt make sense in most cases to broadcast every payment you make on a transparent ledger."

The monero price has surged over the last week, beating out bitcoin itself as the broader ... [+] cryptocurrency market bounces back.

John McAfee, the controversial and outspoken antivirus software developer and curve-ball U.S. presidential candidate, named monero as his cryptocurrency of choice earlier this year.

McAfee, who has reneged on his promise to "eat [his] own dick on national television" if the bitcoin price didn't hit $500,000 per bitcoin by the end of 2020, praised monero, along with ethereum, the second most valuable cryptocurrency after bitcoin.

McAfee made similar allusions to monero's technological superiority over bitcoin.

"Bitcoin was first. It's an ancient technology. All know it," McAfee said via Twitter before recommending monero to cryptocurrency users.

"Newer blockchains have privacy, smart contracts, distributed apps and more. Bitcoin is our future? Was the Model T the future of the automobile?"

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Just One Major Cryptocurrency Is Outperforming Bitcoin Right Now And Its Climbing Fast - Forbes

"It's exactly why bitcoin (BTC) was created," Michael Novogratz, CEO of the cryptocurrency-focused investment firm Galaxy Digital, told CNBC last week.

It's a common refrain heard these days from bitcoin bulls:The U.S. dollar and other currencies will eventually be debased by the injections of trillions of dollars of coronavirus-related aid and monetary stimulus bygovernments and central banks. That should, theoretically,strengthenthe case for bitcoin, the oldest and largest cryptocurrency, as a hedge against inflation.

You're readingFirst Mover, CoinDesk's daily markets newsletter. Assembled by the CoinDesk Markets Team, First Mover starts your day with the most up-to-date sentiment around crypto markets, which of course never close, putting in context every wild swing in bitcoin and more. We follow the money so you dont have to. You can subscribe here.

Such predictions might eventually come true, but for now bitcoin investors are stuck in a holding pattern: The cryptocurrency pushed above $7,000 on Monday, but for the past couple weeks it has struggled to hold that level, whichit hasn'treliably traded above since early March.

"Anice recovery from the lows leaves investors hopeful," cryptocurrency analysis firmArcane Research wrote Friday in a report. "However, this is not yet reflected in the market sentiment."

Any inflationstemming fromfiscal and monetary stimulus could take a while to appear partly because of higher unemployment and a drop-off in economic demandcould relieve upward pressure on consumer prices in the near term. In the U.S. alone, roughly 10 million new unemployment claims were filed during the last two full weeks of March, and JPMorgan economists predictthat a report this week will reveal another seven million claims were filed last week. Bank of America says the lack of an effective policy response to control the spread of the virus will push 2020 global growth to a contraction of 2.7 percent, instead of an expansion of 0.3 percent.

Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures and co-founder of the blockchain analytics startup CoinMetrics, wrote last week for CoinDesk that the devaluation of money "does not happen immediately, but over time."

The 2008 financial crisis prompted the Federal Reserve to doubletotal assetsin a matter of weeks, and then doubled the size of the balance sheet again to more than $4 trillion over the next few years. But it took the money supply, as measured by M2, more than 12 years to double, at least partly because of low demand for loans in the years after the crisis.

The bitcoin market's tepid reaction thus far to the Federal Reserve's announcement of essentiallyunbounded quantitative easingmight disappoint some bitcoiners who are looking for a faster pump.

Sylvain Saurel, author of the blogIn Bitcoin We Trust, wrote last week that a separate move by U.S. regulators to reduce bankreserve requirements could lead to new money creation "ad infinitum."

"This unprecedented currency devaluation in such a short period of time has been decided by the Federal Reserve in a totally arbitrary manner," Saurel wrote. His conclusion,essentially, was that people should buy bitcoin.

Jay Hao, CEO of the Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx, wrote last weekin a blog postthat "more proactive measures" would be needed beyond "QE infinity." Those could include anew "super-sovereign currency" to address trade and economic imbalances created by the U.S. dollar's dominant role in global finance.

"At present, bitcoinpossesses the characteristics of a super-sovereign currency," Hao wrote.

The investment narrative that bitcoin is a "harder" currency than U.S. dollars and is getting additional traction from next month's "halving" on the bitcoin blockchain the once-every-four-years occurrence by which the pace ofissuance of new units of the cryptocurrency gets cut in half.

Traders are expected to get a chance this week to observe how prices oftwo bitcoin-offshootcryptocurrencies, Bitcoin SV (BSV) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH),perform as they go through their own quadrennial halvings.

Someanalysts said last month that bitcoin was trading in syncwith U.S. stocks. That was seen as a sign thatsome investors were selling the cryptocurrency as part of anindiscriminate flight to safety into dollars.

Olga Feldmeier, CEO of the digital-asset exchange Smart Valor and a self-described "outright bitcoin maximalist," says bitcoin's price plunge earlier this year undercuts hopes that the cryptocurrency would serve as a safe-haven assetin times of market turmoil. She instead recommended "tokenized gold" digital tokens like the Pax Gold (PAXG) that offer a crypto-friendly way of investing in the yellow metal, long seen as a reliable inflation hedge.

Kraken, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, noted in an April 4blog postthat the volume of PAXG trading on its platform surged to $13 million in March, a six-fold increase from February levels.

"Kraken clients appear to see PAXG as a safe haven of late since it is backed by gold, which typically acts as a safe haven amidst economic uncertainty," according to the post.

But there are some indications that bitcoin might be trading more like gold in recent weeks. VanEck, a money-management firm that offers a bitcoin trust to qualified institutional buyers, saysbitcoin's price correlation with gold jumped to 0.47during the last couple weeks of March, from an average 0.03 over the past eight years. (A correlation of 1 implies perfect synchronicity.)

The next couple months could prove pivotalfor bitcoin as the U.S. suffers theworst stretch of thepandemic's health crisisand moves into the economic-recovery phase. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, told CNBC last week the recently passed $2 trillion aid packagewould not be enough. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he wouldask Congress for more moneyif a $350 billion pool for small businesses runs out.

"More bazookas needed," executives for the Wall Street dealer Jefferies wrote Friday in an open letter to clients and colleagues.

Is bitcoin the real digital gold? With more financial "bazookas" getting hoisted into position, cryptocurrency markets will serve as theproving ground.

"Many Bitcoin advocates think it will prove to be a better long-term store of value than gold," according to the Kraken blog post. "Only time will tell."

Tweet of the day

Editor's caveat: No idea if this $20 "Bitcoin Logo V2 Neck Gaiter Face Mask" is real. If so the free publicity heredoes NOT representan endorsement. It seems like a high price for a mostly polyester bandana. But itcertainly isa sign of the times.

BITCOIN WATCH

Bitcoin is again looking to establish a strong foothold above $7,000, having tested dip demand with a pullback to $6,600 over the weekend. The cryptocurrency printed a high above $7,100 early Monday and is currently changing hands around $7,090.

The bulls have repeatedly failed to keep gains above the $7,000 mark over the last three weeks, forcing investors to question the sustainability of recovery rally from the March 19 low of $3,867.

Even so, the bias remains bullish, as a pennant breakout confirmed April 2 is still intact. As a result, the cryptocurrency remains on the hunt for a test of the descending 50-day average, currently at $7,522.

If the upside break of $7,000 resistance again proves to be short-lived, the immediate bullish outlook would be neutralized. The bias would turn bearish if prices fall below support at the weekend low of $6,610.

That would open the doors to the higher low of $5,856 created March 30.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Continued here:

Trillions in Coronavirus Stimulus Brings Out the Bitcoin Bulls - CoinDesk

The global spread of the coronavirus played a major role in the dramatic 2020 stock market crash. The bailout bill for saving the worlds economy is $7 trillion and rising fast. Bitcoin bull Tim Draper believes this confluence of factors may be the tipping point that allows innovations such as Bitcoin and smart contracts to flourish.

In an interview on April 6, the global venture capital investor said he was skeptical about the governments infinite money printing bailout plan and said it would take years before that money permeates the global economy.

They are gonna be printing all this money to try to get the economy back after they've basically tanked it, he said. They are going to flood it with a bunch of money, and that money is going to be worth less, and less, and less.

Draper believes people will start turning to Bitcoin as it has a fixed supply, in stark contrast to fiat which is being printed in the billions by central banks:

This is going to be a really interesting time where people say well, why dont I just use Bitcoin? I know there are only 21 million of them and we dont have to worry about whether a government is diluting their currency by printing tons of it, we can instead just use a currency we all agree on and its all a part of the economy and its already frictionless and open and transparent and global.

Although there is debate about whether coronavirus may end the trend towards globalization over the past 25 years, Draper believes digital financial innovations like Bitcoin, smart contracts and artificial intelligence will force governments to compete among themselves at the virtual level to bring better services at lower cost to attract talents.

This in return will empower people with more choices to move freely and live in a loving and nicer new global world. He added that:

It doesnt matter whether you are from the U.S, China or Russia or India or Europe or whatever, we are an open world and then the geographic borders are going to mean less and less.

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Tim Draper: Pandemic Could Be The Tipping Point For Bitcoin - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) price has gained more than 10% in the last week, giving bulls some hope that the road ahead is a bright one for the leading digital asset.

However, despite an effort to blast through the critical resistance level of $7,200 as mentioned in last weeks analysis, there was a huge rejection bringing home the reality that perhaps it may be a little too soon to be expecting a miraculous bounce back to the $8,000+ levels.

Daily crypto market performance. Source: Coin360.com

BTC USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

I think its safe to assume that Bitcoin has settled back into the descending channel that formed in the second half of 2019. As Bitcoin has now not only bounced off support on the daily, leaving nothing but a wick, but it has now done exactly the same with the resistance.

To me, this validates the channel even more so than before, as the price is currently following a path marked I marked out in yellow, on a video I published to YouTube on March 31. This was one of three scenarios I was waiting on, and the one I felt that was most likely.

As such, since Bitcoin cannot seem to break out above $7,200, it seems probable that bears might be about to regain control ahead of the much-anticipated halving event, and this puts $5,500 as the critical price to hold before cheap corn is back on the menu.

However, many key indicators are contradicting this sentiment.

BTC USD weekly MACD chart Source: TradingView

During sideways market periods, it is easy to get chopped up and spat out when working off lower time frames, and often a glance at a higher time frame can help validate your bias. However, one such indicator that isnt good for bears right now is the weekly moving average divergence convergence (MACD) indicator, as this is now mooing to the herd.

As can be seen from the chart, the MACD is already starting to pinch towards the signal line. Since we have had a relatively bullish week, we should see this move in even more so when the weekly candle closes, bringing us closer to a bullish cross, which typically results in a sustained uptrend, which almost always lasts over a month if not several.

However, right now, there are bigger things happening in the world that may invalidate this as a possibility, and my concern is that we will begin to see a significant reduction in retail buying power due to the rise in unemployment resulting from the coronavirus lockdowns.

While the worldwide quarantine is in the early stages with many believing it will only last a couple of weeks you only need to look at China to see that this will last a lot longer, so who exactly would be buying?

The answer may lie in the Relative Strength Index, which could be enticing smart money into crypto.

BTC USD weekly RSI chart Source: TradingView

The last time Bitcoin approached oversold territory on the weekly, it experienced a 300% price increase within six months as can be seen on the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator. This is based on the Dec. 10, 2018,pivot from 29.07 on the RSI scale.

However, Bitcoin had already experienced a bounce on the RSI on March 9, 2020, when it was 33.37 on the RSI scale, and even with the colossal dump on March 12, the RSI is still trending upwards. This brings to light two pertinent questions:

But perhaps another clue as to what can be expected from Bitcoin over the coming weeks can be found in the mining difficulty charts?

BTC mining difficulty. Source: BTC.com

The Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped by a monstrous -15.95% the biggest since 2011 on March 26, an adjustment that helped ease miners concerns surrounding profitability. This time last week, it looked as if the mining difficulty would drop by a further -14%.

However, as the week has progressed the adjustment estimate has dropped to just -2.2% and with three days left to go, this could end up closing as a positive adjustment.

You only have to look at the impact the positive adjustments had on the price of Bitcoin this year to see what this could be yet another bullish indicator.

All the indicators are bullish, so why does it feel bearish? Right now we are at the top of a valid channel, as such a breakout could well be imminent. For this to happen Bitcoin would need to flip $7K resistance into support and from here $8,200 looks like the next level of resistance we would encounter.

The price of Bitcoin has already doubled since its recent bottom, as such a pullback to $5,500 over the next week would be completely reasonable to expect.

If this level fails to hold, then it opens up $3,900 as a possibility. If bulls dont step in then, Id be very surprised.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of @officiallykeith and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Bitcoin Flips Bullish But Heres Why BTC Price May Still Hit $3.9K - Cointelegraph

A Bitcoin (BTC) trading scam has claimed the involvement of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry Charles Albert David and his wife Meghan Markle.

According to an April 9 report by the Mirror, the royal couple was featured in a fake BBC article where they praised a Bitcoin trading scheme.

The fake news piece claimed that the pair talked during a television show about a wealth loophole that can transform anyone into a millionaire within three to four months.

According to the fake article, the scheme would play a role in the couple's very real intentions to step back as senior Royal Family members and become financially independent. The report praises the well-known Bitcoin scam Bitcoin Evolution:

What's made us successful is jumping into new opportunities quickly and without hesitation, and right now our number one money-make is a new cryptocurrency auto-trading program called Bitcoin Evolution. [...] It's the single biggest opportunity we've seen in our entire lifetimes to build a small fortune fast. [...] We urge everyone to check this out before the banks shut it down.

The article leads potential victims to the scam's website, which features a red banner and a countdown clock, warning that registration will close soon because of high demand. As the Mirror explains, this is a strategy meant to motivate potential investors to fall for the scam. The website also claimed that members usually earn at least $1,300 daily while working an average of 20 minutes per day, adding:

Your profits are unlimited within The Bitcoin Evolution. Some members earned their first million within just 61 days.

In order to gain credibility, promoters of cryptocurrency scams often claim to involve well-known public figures. As Cointelegraph reported in late March, Janet Jacksons billionaire ex-husband, Wissam Al Mana, was also featured in such a scam promotion on Facebook. He later demanded that the social media platform reveal the identity of the promoter.

Also in March, the cryptocurrency community spotted a bogus YouTube account impersonating Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of the firm behind XRP Ripple.

Read more:

Bitcoin Trading Scam Claims to Involve Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - Cointelegraph

For all of its revolutionary potential, Bitcoin remains a work in progress. Its long, and often contentious development has been the subject of immense debate among both supporters and critics. Several emerging steps along its march to completion will soon become game changers on the move toward mass adoption.

Increasing network capacity is crucial for Bitcoins long-term success. Finding a workable scaling solution has been by-far the most difficult and contentious challenge faced by Bitcoin advocates.

The adoption of Segregated Witness (SegWit) enabled the creation of the Lightning Network (LN), which in theory solves the scaling problem. However, LN use has been anaemic since its launch. Apps and wallets that use the protocol are not user friendly, and it remains more of a novelty than a core function of the platform.

This fact may soon change as the network grows. Presently, daily transaction levels are low enough for all to easily move on-chain without help from the LN. Bitcoin will begin to see problems once daily volume is roughly double what it is now, which is all but certain to happen. At that point fees and slowing confirmation times will make using the LN far more attractive.

There are other scaling solutions in the works as well. Liquid, promoted by Blockstream, is growing rapidly. In fact, as Longhash recently pointed out, more Bitcoins are tied to Liquid than the LN at the time of writing:

Critics have long derided Bitcoin for lacking true privacy, as every transaction can be tracked on the chain. Many altcoins, such as Monero, Zcash, and Dash seek to solve this shortcoming through a variety of obfuscation features.

Bitcoin developers have been hard at work on this issue for several years. One solution, known as bulletproofs, uses what are known as zero knowledge proofs. These enable senders and receivers to prove that they know the value of a transaction without revealing how. Thus, transactions can be sent and confirmed privately.

Other ways to ensure private Bitcoin transactions are also under development. It remains too early to know which will become the standard, yet there is little doubt that the flagship cryptocurrency will soon enable fully confidential use. How this will tie in with future international regulations however, remains to be seen.

The ability to move blockchain assets across the various platforms has long been a major goal of crypto developers. Various incarnations of this ability have been worked on over the years, the most notable of which are Atomic Swaps.

Perhaps the strongest demand is to create functionality between Bitcoin and Ethereum. In fact, Vitalik Buterin recently tweeted about this issue:

Among the most promising is the Nerve network, which is part of the Nuls ecosystem. The Nuls technical team has just released a whitepaper that outlines how Nerve will enable a degree of interoperability between Ethereum and Bitcoin. Cosmos and Polkadot are two other platforms also working on similar projects.

The most important takeaway from these developments is the fact that Bitcoin is far from complete. Many changes will soon dramatically increase its functionality and potential for use on a mass scale.

What do you think is Bitcoins most important development going forward? Add your thoughts below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @VitalikButerin @longhashdata

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3 Major Developments That Will Change How You Use Bitcoin - Bitcoinist