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Litecoin active wallets jump ahead of Bitcoin Cash and BSV – CryptoSlate

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Litecoin long called the digital silver to Bitcoin is seeing a rise in activity ahead of its MimbleWimble implementation in September this year.

The metrics indicate Litecoin is seeing a resurgence in terms of investments, transactions, and transfers. It comes as the broader crypto market sees better public sentiment and positive fundamentals overall.

A significant reason could be the upcoming launch of MimbleWimble, which brings privacy features to Litecoin. The implementation is on track for a September rollout, as lead developer David Burkett confirm in a July project update.

For the uninitiated, MimbleWimblea Harry Potter referencewas first proposed in 2016 to fill privacy lapses in the Bitcoin protocol. The latter gives away transactional information that allows firms like Chainalysis to tie transactions to an individual.

But last year, Litecoin founder Charlie Lee said confidential transactions were soon coming to Litecoin:

But privacy is not the only benefit of MimbleWimble. As Burkett stated in his update, a new syncing process brings faster transactions on the Litecoin network courtesy of an innovative block processing model.

The Litecoin community could also see a partnership with Cardano, if a tweet exchange last month between Lee and Charles Hoskinson, the Cardano founder, is anything to go by:

At the time, Lee replied with a Sure! and stated that someone from the Foundation would get in touch with Hoskinson about a collaboration.

Trading wise, Litecoin led gains among all large-cap cryptocurrencies in the recent rally. Lee even remarked on Twitter that the digital currency was once again leading alongside Bitcoin, cementing its strong demand and use even as newer tokens aim to displace the status quo.

Litecoin has historically served as a leading indicator of Bitcoin prices (one that moves ahead of BTC instead of lagging the pioneer).

Willy Woo, a prominent trader and on-chain analyst, pointed this aspect out in a tweet in April. At the time, he noted that LTC has a habit of leading BTC.

Meanwhile, the charts show a tight for Litecoin. Its currently hovering between $56-$60 range after a run-up from sub-$40 in the first week of August.

But its above the 34-exponential moving average on the four-hour charts, meaning the bullish trend remains in place.

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Litecoin active wallets jump ahead of Bitcoin Cash and BSV - CryptoSlate

Bitcoin is on rampage as it breaks through $12000 price level – Nairametrics

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Its crypto. Its physical gold. And recently, it was approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services for custody and listing. Its a product from the crypto-verse that combines gold and crypto into a single unit.

Data from Coinmarketcap showed PAX Gold traded at about $1,521 as of March 21, 2020. As of the time of writing this report, the crypto asset was trading at about $2,039.40, showing gains in percentage terms of about 134%. Meanwhile, Gold price so far has gained just 35% in 2020.

READ MORE: ChainLinks digital coin skyrockets 388% in 130 days, still soaring

Why PAX Gold: The sudden surge in this gold-backed stablecoin, since the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, appears to be driven by increased awareness of its unique features, which include access to gold without bullion fees or other storage costs.

Quick fact: PAX Gold (PAXG) is a crypto asset backed by Gold. A PaxoGold digital coin is backed by one fine troy ounce (t oz) of a 400 oz London Good Delivery gold bar, stored in Brinks gold vaults. Any entity or individual who owns PAX Gold owns the underlying physical gold held in custody by Paxos Trust Company.

READ MORE: QKC: fastest rising crypto asset in 30 days, gains 100%

Paxos has recently responded to all its digital coins being listed on the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), stating that it validated the companys time, energy, and expense which it put into compliance.

Commenting on the green list, Dan Burstein, Chief Compliance Officer at Paxos said: As the Chief Compliance Officer at Paxos, Im proud that the culture of Paxos is truly centered around compliance. We build products that the world has never seen before, and we build them for the innovators in the space, not the bad actors.

Our engineers and product managers prioritize compliance as we create new products, our business development team considers compliance as we structure new partnerships, our operations team helps onboard and service customers according to our high compliance standards, our information security team ensures we hold our customers digital assets and personal information in the most secure way possible the list goes on.

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Bitcoin is on rampage as it breaks through $12000 price level - Nairametrics

Wall Street Revealed To Be Edging Out Bitcoin Traders With $1 Million+ Transactions – Forbes

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have attracted the attention of Wall Street in recent years, with some of the biggest bitcoin and crypto asset managers reporting massive inflows.

The bitcoin price, after struggling through a prolonged so-called "crypto winter" in 2018, has found relative stability around the $10,000 level over the last 12 months.

Now, research from bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain data company Chainalysis has revealed institutional investors on Wall Street are increasingly moving even larger transfers of bitcoin and cryptocurrencywith the trend "only just beginning."

Institutional investors in the U.S. are moving even larger transfers of cryptocurrency than ... [+] professional traders, bitcoin and blockchain data company Chainalysis has revealed.

"As of June, approximately 90% of North America's cryptocurrency transfer volume came from professional-sized transfers, which we categorize as those above $10,000 worth of cryptocurrency," the Chainalysis team wrote in a blog post detailing the findings of its 2020 geography of cryptocurrency report.

"However, over the last two years in North America, were seeing the impact of a growing class of institutional investors whose transfers account for the growing dominance of professionals in the North American market since December 2019."

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency transfers in North America above $1 million rose from 46% of the total value transferred in late 2019 to a high of 57% in May 2020, Chainalysis found.

The overall market share of professional-sized bitcoin and crypto transfers in North America rose from 87% to 92% over the same period.

"In other words, the increasing dominance of North Americas professional market since December 2019 appears to be almost entirely driven by transfers of $1 million or more worth of cryptocurrency, many of which we believe are coming from institutional investors," the researchers wrote.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions worth over $1 million have soared over the last year, ... [+] climbing as bitcoin and crypto transactions worth between $100,000 and $1 million have fallen.

Meanwhile, despite the likes of multi-billion dollar bitcoin and crypto-asset manager Grayscale declaring institutional investors "have now arrived" in the crypto market, the trend could be just getting started.

"Institutional money is only just beginning to enter the cryptocurrency ecosystem, and so the market is still relatively immature and fragmented," Kim Grauer, Chainalysis' Senior Economist, said via email, pointing to exchanges listing different prices and exchanges being able to handle different amounts of liquidity for big buyers resulting in "liquidity constraints contributing to a higher potential for price volatility and market manipulation."

However, Wall Street's increasing involvement in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency market "will help cryptocurrency mature in terms of greater transparency and price stability," according to Grauer.

"We anticipate arbitrage opportunities closing up, better solutions for combining liquidity across exchanges, and greater price stability and price discovery," Grauer said, adding: "We expect that as regulators and financial institutions better understand the benefits of cryptocurrencys transparency, they will start to trust the space more."

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Wall Street Revealed To Be Edging Out Bitcoin Traders With $1 Million+ Transactions - Forbes

20 Institutional Bitcoin Investors Revealed, But Soon The List May Vanish – Forbes

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Barry Silbert, founder and chief executive officer of Digital Currency Group Inc. (DCG), speaks ... [+] during the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May 2019. DCG subsidiary Grayscale is working to convert all ten of its crypto products to SEC reporting companies.

Institutional adoption of bitcoin is here, you just have to know where to look. While cryptocurrency advocates have long worked to build an ecosystem deemed credible enough for more than just mom and pop investors, nearly 20 institutions already filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last quarter, showing they invested in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), a product of Barry Silberts New York-based Grayscale Investments, LLC.

While many of the names are well-known mutual funds like Ark Invest with $4.5 billion in assets under management and Horizon Kinetic, managing $5.3 billion, according to their investor disclosure forms, the latest filings are also rife with relative newbies to the space including Rothschild Investment Corporation, Addison Capital and Corriente Advisor. It's very difficult to have a clean one-to-one signal on who's entering and exiting the space, says Ark Invest crypto analyst Yassine Elmandjra. But there are some very interesting proxies that can gauge institutional interest.

The problem is, the vast majority of the institutional investors who filed the paperwork, called a 13F filing, will no longer need to do so if the SEC gets its way and raises the threshold to report from $100 million to $3.5 billion. Though bitcoin represents only a tiny fraction of the total assets that will no longer have to be disclosed if the change is implemented, the nascent industry stands to be disproportionately impacted.

Of the 27 GBTC disclosures Forbes found only nine were more than the new $3.5 billion projection. Only three companies managed those nine funds, meaning much of the diversity of the space, the smaller institutional investors who are just starting to experiment with the new asset, would disappear. The changes are bad timing for the nascent bitcoin industry, which is just now starting to see broad institutional interest in the asset that many see as a hedge against more traditional investments, and a possible safe haven for investors as central banks around the world seem to be printing endless amounts of money.

But as often happens in crypto, every one step back the industry takes, theres two steps forward. In January, the same Grayscale Bitcoin Trust whose clients had already been filing 13Fs became an SEC reporting company, making it the first bitcoin firm to file quarterly 10-Qs and annual 10-Ks with the regulator, shedding new light on the internal structure of institutional bitcoin adoption.

Today, Grayscale took it up a notch, starting the same process with the SEC for its second crypto fund, the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), and revealing exclusively to Forbes its plans to turn each of its 10 productsalso including XRP, stellar lumens, ethereum classic, litecoin, zcash, bitcoin cash, zen, and a fund for large cap cryptocurrenciesinto SEC reporting companies.

The model we have is working, says Grayscale managing director Michael Sonnenshein, 34. It also continues to hold our team to an even higher standard in how we operate our business and how we diligence our partners and can really serve as a model for other asset managers. Therell be a 60-day comment period starting today, before, the trust could also start filing its 10-Ks. If all goes as planned, Grayscale will next work to convert all ten of its cryptocurrency investment vehicles into publicly traded assets, then turn each of those into SEC reporting companies.

The price of bitcoin has increased by 56% since January, according to cryptocurrency data site Messari, reaching its high for the year, $11,809, earlier this month before dropping slightly to $11,657 at the time of publication. The most recent Grayscale quarterly report saw the trust growing at a rate of $57.8 million a week, reaching a record $751.1 million in the quarter. As of yesterday, assets in GBTC totaled $4.5 billion and Grayscales total assets under management have increased 37.5% since the June report to $5.5 billion today.

Due to the dearth of publicly traded investment opportunities for bitcoin, investments in GBTC can serve as a useful proxy for institutional interest in crypto-assets. But it is far from a perfect metric. The highly private New York private equity giant Fortress Investment Group has $41 billion in assets under management for 1,700 institutional investors, and earlier this year offered to buy out the creditor claims in the now defunct MtGox bitcoin exchange. $30 billion pension and endowment advisor Cambridge Associates, has been advocating for its clients to invest in bitcoin since at least 2019.

Famed Hedge Funders Mark Yusko and Mike Novogratz serve institutional bitcoin investors at their firms, Morgan Creek and Galaxy Digital, respectively, and Forbes 30 Under 30 member Hunter Horsley founded Bitwise Asset Management to serve institutional investors. In May Canadian firm 3iQ started trading a bitcoin fund on the Toronto Stock Exchange, joining London-based Coinshares and Switzerland-based Amun, which offer exchange-traded notes similar to Grayscales products in other jurisdictions.

The massive inflow of funds to Grayscale sister company Genesis Capital, which added over $2.2B in new loan originations in Q2, is also evidence of institutional interest. But for the most part, the clients of these firms remain incredibly private, making the soon-to-be changed 13F reports on GBTC investment activity a crucial source of investor data.

Earlier this year U.S. attorney general William Barr announced that President Trump intended to nominate SEC Chairman Jay Clayton as the next U.S. attorney for the influential southern district of New York. One of the last things Clayton did as he prepared to step down as the nations top regulator was publish a plan that would raise the minimum assets. You lose a lot of transparency in the market, says Daniel Collins, founder of WhaleWisdom, a data provider that specializes in analyzing 13F forms. That's why people look to the U.S. market, to establish confidence in the market for potential investors, foreign investors. And all of a sudden you're hiding all these assets every quarter that used to be disclosed.

The SEC adopted the 13F form in 1978 as a way to track the investment behaviors of Americas largest investors. At the time, the value of U.S. public corporate equities was $1.1 trillion, according to an SEC statement, and the minimum size of a company deemed influential enough to track was $100 million. Between then and the announcement of the proposed changes earlier this year, the total number of those equities grew to about $35 trillion. The proposed $3.5 billion minimum is designed to be proportionately the same to the total public corporate equities as when the form was first adopted.

Clayton was nominated by Trump to be chairman of the SEC in January 2017 and is known in the cryptocurrency community for cracking down on several initial coin offerings (ICOs) where tokens issued on a blockchain were sold in a manner similar to traditional securities. Given Trumps cozy relationships with private companies, its perhaps no surprise that the presumptive nominee to be U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York would seek to make such a business-friendly change to regulation on his way out. However, retail investors stand to lose a lot of valuable data as 5,200 13F filers last quarter are reduced to an estimated 500 if the regulatory change goes into effect, according to Collins. You're looking at $2.3 trillion in assets, no longer being disclosed, he says.

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20 Institutional Bitcoin Investors Revealed, But Soon The List May Vanish - Forbes

First Mover: Bitcoin Rises More in One Day Than Stocks Have Gained All Year – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin prices surged 5% on Wednesday, outpacing stocks and gold amid calls for more government stimulus, as the economic toll of the coronavirus mounts.

The oldest and largest cryptocurrency rose to $11,755. The price is now approaching $12,000 for the second time in a week, a level that bitcoin hasnt sustainably traded above for more than a year.

Youre readingFirst Mover, CoinDesks 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 cansubscribe here.

Bloomberg News went so far as to declare in an article Wednesday that bitcoin mania appears to be almost back in full bloom.

Bitcoin is seen by many digital-asset investors as a hedge against inflation, and the bets are growing that governments and central banks will have to pump trillions of dollars more into the financial system to stimulate the economy out of the worst recession since the 1930s.

Gold, historically seen as a reliable inflation hedge, surged this week to a new record above $2,000.

Yet, even golds 35% gain this year is no match for bitcoins 63% price increase. The Standard & Poors 500 Index is now up 3% on the year, with some traditional investors arguing that stocks have become detached from reality, merely propped up by the roughly $3 trillion of freshly created money that the Federal Reserve has pumped into the global financial system this year.

Bitcoin and the crypto markets are once again able to claim independence from the traditional markets, Mati Greenspan, co-founder of the foreign-exchange and cryptocurrency analysis firm Quantum Economics, wrote Wednesday in a newsletter.

The U.S. governments budget deficit this fiscal year is projected to soar to $3.7 trillion, far surpassing the previous record of $1.4 trillion in 2009, according to the Associated Press.

An extra $600-per-week federal benefit for laid-off workers lapsed last week, threatening the economic recovery, and U.S. lawmakers arewrangling over the details of a newspending measure that could range from $1 trillion to more than $3 trillion.

Bitcoins long-term value proposition as a hedge against fiat currency debasement only grows stronger,Anil Lulla, of cryptocurrency research firm Delphi Digital, noted Wednesday in an op-ed for CoinDesk.

The International Monetary Fund warned this week in a blog post that another bout of global financial stress could trigger more capital flow reversals, currency pressures and further raise the risk of an external crisis for economies with preexisting vulnerabilities, such as large current account deficits.

All that just plays to bitcoins strengths, as more investors start to extrapolate the likely stimulus needed to recover from a protracted economic downturn. According Bloomberg News, analysts for the U.S. bank JPMorgan wrote Tuesday that while older investors are buying gold, younger investors are buying bitcoin.

The analysis firm Coin Metrics noted thatover the past week bitcoin had averaged over 1 million daily active addresses for the first time since January 2018. That was in the wake of the cryptocurrencyhitting an all-time high around $20,000 in 2017.

And Norwegian cryptocurrency-analysis firm Arcane Research noted in a report this week that bitcoin daily trading volumes have been growing strongly, with several days topping $2 billion. The number of openbitcoin futures contracts on the CME exchange has jumped to a new record around $850 million.

The strong momentum in the market continues, Arcane wrote. The sharp rise in open interest at CME is a clear indication of increased institutional demand for bitcoin.

Chris Thomas, head of digital assets for broker Swissquote, told CoinDesks Daniel Cawreyon Wednesdaythat bitcoin could break past $12,000 by Friday.

The signs certainly appear to be pointing in that direction.

Tweet of the day

Bitcoin watch

BTC: Price: $11,700 (BPI) | 24-Hr High: $11,807 | 24-Hr Low: $11,380

Trend:Bitcoin is looking north after twin bullish cues were activated by a 5% rally Wednesday.

Firstly, with the UTC close at $11,755, bitcoin marked an upside break of a narrowing price range witnessed Monday and Tuesday.

In addition, Wednesdays UTC close established a strong foothold above $11,400. The bulls had repeatedly failed to keep gains above that level on Monday and Tuesday.

The combination of range breakout and convincing move above a key hurdle has opened the doors for a re-test of recent highs above $12,100.

Still, the case for a rally to recent highs would only weaken if prices fall back below the former hurdle-turned-support of $11,400. At press time, bitcoin is changing hands near $11,700.

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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First Mover: Bitcoin Rises More in One Day Than Stocks Have Gained All Year - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Bitcoin Cash Outperforms Bitcoin, Ethereum; Altcoins Move Higher – Cryptonews

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

On a day with mostly green numbers in the crypto market, bitcoin cash (BCH) surged strongly, far outperforming both bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, smaller altcoins DASH and LEND also stood out with strong performance overnight.

Total market capitalization

Looking at the 4-hour bitcoin chart, it seems that the price is still working to catch up with the highs from before the correction on August 2, and the recovery still looks robust from a technical perspective. The major resistance around the USD 12,000 level still remains, however, and this high will need to be taken out before a major new rally can begin.

Meanwhile, the shorter-term 1-hour chart reveals that the consolidation pattern bitcoin has been in for the past two days still remains, with upper resistance at the USD 11,880 level and support to the downside at around the USD 11,750 area.

ETH has continued to consolidate the large gains seen over the past few weeks, with modestly lower prices seen both yesterday and today. As noted in yesterdays market watch, the longer-term uptrend on the daily chart is still intact for ETH, and it is too early to conclude that the bull-run has ended.

Zooming in to the 1-hour timeframe, however, the ETH chart looks more bearish in the short-term, with a possible inverse head-and-shoulder pattern formed over the past two days. Given this, a close on the hourly chart below the USD 392 level could open the door for some more selling from bears.

Standing out the most among the major coins today was bitcoin cash (BCH), with a 24-hour move of just over 10% as of press time (08:25 UTC). The move positioned BCH as todays best performer among the top 20 cryptoassets by market capitalization.

Looking at it from a charting perspective, BCH is still in an uptrend on both the 4-hour and 1-hour timeframes, which started with a large move higher yesterday. The coin then pulled back slightly, before reaching a high of USD 326.7, which now acts as the most immediate resistance. Any move above this level would further boost sentiment among BCH traders, with the next upside resistance being the high from August 2 of USD 338.5.

XRP, the third most valuable cryptoasset by market capitalization, also saw decent gains in the crypto market today, outperforming both BTC and ETH with a 24-hour gain of 1.83%.

The coin is still consolidating in a triangle pattern after its near-parabolic uptrend ended with a sharp correction on August 2. A close of a 4-hour candle above USD 0.310 or below USD 0.299 could signal the next major move for the coin, as that would indicate a break-out from the current triangle pattern.

In terms of other altcoin moves today, DASH stood out with a 24-hour move of 10%, after a rally last night took it from about USD 91 to over USD 103 in the matter of hours. The coin is now consolidating on the 4-hour chart, and a break above the recent high of USD 104.8 could signal another run higher.

Similarly, Aaves LEND token also saw strong price gains last night, bringing its 24-hour performance to nearly 16%. The coin is now consolidating on the 4-hour chart, and a move above the high at USD 0.393 would signal further upside.___

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Bitcoin Cash Outperforms Bitcoin, Ethereum; Altcoins Move Higher - Cryptonews

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Up $1.28 Over Past 4 Hours, Started Today Up 0.85%; in an Uptrend Over Past 30 Days – CFDTrading

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin Cash 4 Hour Price Update

Updated August 09, 2020 11:18 AM GMT (07:18 AM EST)

The choppiness in the recent four-hour candle price action of Bitcoin Cash continues; to start the current 4 hour candle, it came in at a price of 307.45 US dollars, up 0.42% ($1.28) since the last 4 hour candle. Bitcoin Cash outperformed all 5 assets in the Top Cryptos asset class since the last 4 hour candle. Congrats to its holders!

304.89 (USD) was the opening price of the day for Bitcoin Cash, resulting in the day prior being one in which price moved up 0.85% ($2.58) from the day prior. This move happened on lower volume, as yesterdays volume was down 70.56% from the day before and down 62.81% from the same day the week before. Relative to other instruments in the Top Cryptos asset class, Bitcoin Cash ranked 4th since the day prior in terms of percentage price change. Below is a daily price chart of Bitcoin Cash.

The clearest trend exists on the 30 day timeframe, which shows price moving up over that time. Or to view things another way, note that out of the past 30 days Bitcoin Cashs price has gone up 16 them.

Over on Twitter, here were the top tweets about Bitcoin Cash:

I love what @Grayscale is doing, but you also have to ask yourself if they really know what theyre doing holding so much Ethereum Classic. It was 51% attacked twice in one week.Bitcoin Cash also has a significant risk of being 51% attacked. Sticking to BTC and LTC

I just want to make it very *very* clear. Come November 15th, I will not be buying any Bitcoin Cash from miners who do not pay the 8% fee to the Bitcoin Cash Foundation.

#Bitsheviks: Everyone who disagrees with The Party is a state actor, colluding with the government against Bitcoin Cash.Also #Bitsheviks: We really need a Bitcoin Cash government to control what code developers publish, and The Party leadership will be in charge of it.

In terms of news links for Bitcoin Cash heres one to try:

Litecoin active wallets jump ahead of Bitcoin Cash and BSV | CryptoSlate

Yesterday, Litecoin Foundation director David Schwartz noted the cryptocurrency had over 92,278 active wallets in the past 24 hrs (from August 6-7); putting it ahead of both Bitcoin Cash and BSV ( the two had 90,446 in total).The latter gives away transactional information that allows firms like Chainalysis to tie transactions to an individual. But last year, Litecoin founder Charlie Lee said confidential transactions were soon coming to Litecoin: Fungibility is the only property of sound money that is missing from Bitcoin & Litecoin.None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice, nor does CryptoSlate endorse any project that may be mentioned or linked to in this article.None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice.

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Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Up $1.28 Over Past 4 Hours, Started Today Up 0.85%; in an Uptrend Over Past 30 Days - CFDTrading

Is This The Real Reason Behind Bitcoins Huge Weekend Flash Crash? – Forbes

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin volatility is back. After months of relative stability the bitcoin price ricocheted this weekend, rapidly losing and gaining over $1,000 in mere minutes.

Bitcoin's Sunday morning flash crash was initially attributed by some to so-called "whales" who control large amounts of bitcoin moving the market, however others have now suggested it could be due to "algo misbehavior."

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets have come alive again after months of stability, with the bitcoin ... [+] price climbing and crashing over the weekend.

The bitcoin price broke $12,000 per bitcoin early Sunday morning only to plummet 12% to $10,500 within the hour before bouncing back to over $11,300 almost immediately.

"Such spikes are still inherent to the crypto market structure, with prolific unregulated leveraged trading going on," Anatoliy Knyazev, the chief executive of brokerage Exante, said via email, adding the flash crash "could be a case of an algo misbehavior."

Algorithmic trading is used to automate trades based on time, price, and volume with traders programming buy or sell orders to happen when certain market conditions are met, such as an asset price reaching a particular level or if it sharply falls.

The effects of algorithmic trading can be exacerbated by leveraged trading, allowing traders to take larger positions with smaller amounts of capitalsomething that is now being offered by many of the biggest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges.

"There's a lot more leverage now than ever before, especially in crypto," Mati Greenspan, the founder of Quantum Economics told subscribers of his markets newsletter.

"This could lead to some extreme volatility," Greenspan wrote, but added he thinks "bitcoin, along with the rest of the digital asset market, is in a bull market right now."

The bitcoin price has shot up by more than 20% over the last month, climbing to levels not seen since August last year.

The bitcoin price has soared by over 20% through July with the weekend's flash crash barely denting ... [+] its upward trajectory.

Meanwhile, it's also been suggested the sharp Sunday morning downturn was due to market participants "profit-taking."

"Bitcoin has been increasing, and on Sunday morning the first digital currency touched $12,000," Alex Kuptsikevich, senior financial analyst at FxPro, said via email.

"However, due to the wave of profit-taking, it quickly corrected to $11,000. Taking into account the relatively low liquidity of the crypto market, a small number of large orders is capable of launching waves in both directions."

Is This The Real Reason Behind Bitcoins Huge Weekend Flash Crash? - Forbes

Bitcoin Unable To Break $12k While Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Joins the Party (Market Watch) – CryptoPotato

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin continued heading upwards, but it couldnt challenge the $12,000 line. Bitcoin Cashs 10% increase is among the most impressive from the larger-cap alts, while some lower-cap altcoins have been surging by double-digits.

Bitcoin was steadily progressing towards $12,000 in the past 24 hours. After yesterdays low of $11,580, bulls took charge and spiked BTCs price to a daily high of $11,910 on Bitstamp. However, the primary cryptocurrency couldnt sustain its run and dipped briefly to $11,700.

After another unsuccessful attempt to conquer $11,900 and head towards the psychological level at $12,000, BTC has retraced slightly to $11,800. Just below ($11,750) is a major resistance line that has to be overtaken decisively if the asset indeed wants to break above $12,000 and march towards a new yearly high.

Should it fail and bears take control, Bitcoin can rely on $11,400 as support, followed by $11,175, and $11,050.

As reported yesterday, Bitcoin and gold have significantly increased its correlation levels in the past several weeks. As such, its somewhat unsurprisingly that the precious metals performance in the last 24 hours resembles that of BTC again. Gold marked a new all-time high of $2,070/oz but has retraced since to $2,060 as of writing these lines.

Ethereum and Ripple remain relatively stable at $395 and $0.30, respectively. Minor gains are evident with Bitcoin SV (2.75%), Litecoin (2%), Cardano (1.5%), and Chainlink (2.5%) from the top 10 coins. However, Bitcoin Cash is outperforming all of them, with a 10% increase to $320.

The most impressive gainer in the top 100 market, though, is Balancer. BAL has skyrocketed by nearly 40% to $14. The surge could be largely attributed to news coming from the leading cryptocurrency exchange by volume. Yesterday, Binance announced listing the BAL token, and the price has reacted immediately.

The double-digit increase club is quite crowded today. Decentraland is next with a 25% price pump, followed by Aave (16%), Ocean Protocol (12.2%), Blockstack (12%), THORChain (11%), Dash (10.3%), Kava (10.2%), and Band Protocol (10.1%).

In contrast, stands again Ampleforth, with a 7% decrease. AMPL is in negative rebase territory as it trades below $1 for several consecutive days now. In other words, AMPL investors are losing tokens as the protocol is intended to deflate the supply in case theres no sufficient demand.

The Midas Touch Gold is down by 6.6%, followed by Nexo (-3.6%), and Bancor retraces by 3.5%.

Click here to start trading on BitMEX and receive 10% discount on fees for 6 months.

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 and Ripple’s XRP Weekly Technical Analysis August 10th, 2020 – FX Empire

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Steering clear of the first major support level at $9,967, Bitcoin rallied to a Friday intraweek high $11,900.

Falling short of the weeks first major resistance level at $12,119, Bitcoin fell back to $11,500 levels before finding support.

5 days in the green that included a 4.93% rally on Wednesday delivered the upside for the week.

Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall through $11,506 pivot to support another run the first major resistance level at $12,069 into play.

Support from the broader market would be needed for Bitcoin to break out from the current week high $12,060.

Barring another extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside.

In the event of a breakout, Bitcoin could break out from the second major resistance level at $12,463 to target $13,000 levels.

A fall through the $11,506 pivot would bring the first major support level at $11,112 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, Bitcoin should avoid sub-$11,000 levels and the second major support level at $10,549.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 2.80% to $12,002.0. A bullish start to the week saw Bitcoin rise from an early morning low $11,675.3 to a high $12,060 on Monday.

Bitcoin tested the first major resistance level at $12,069 at the start of the week.

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Bitcoin and Ripple's XRP Weekly Technical Analysis August 10th, 2020 - FX Empire

Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Trading Tops $95 Million as Sub-Saharan Africa Records All Time High | Markets and Prices – Bitcoin News

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Weekly peer-to-peer bitcoin trading volumes topped $95 million globally with several countries recording new all-time highs for the year.

The record trading volumes coincided with the most bullish week for cryptocurrencies with bitcoin (BTC) briefly trading above $12,000.

As data from Usefultulips shows, peer to peer bitcoin trading volumes for the week topped an equivalent of $95 million. The figure surpasses $92.4 million, the highest weekly volume value in 2019.

The data combines trading volumes at two peer-to-peer trading platforms, Localbitcoins and Paxful. According to the same data, the month of December 2017 had the highest ever recorded weekly traded volume. Trades totaling $131 million were recorded.

Meanwhile, a break down of the $95 million by region shows that North America is leading with $28.7 million. The United States takes the lions share of that figure.

The Sub-Saharan Africa region comes second with $18.3 million worth of bitcoin have being traded between peers in the period under review.

A further breakdown of the $18.3 million reveals that Nigeria leads the Sub-Saharan Africa region. According to the data, Nigerian peer to peer bitcoin trading volumes topped an equivalent of $9.8 million. The figure is slightly below the $10.3 million recorded in the week earlier.

Kenya is a distant second with $3.2 million worth of trades while South African peer-to-peer trading volumes topped $2.8 million.

The Sub-Saharan Africa data also shows that the regions $18.3 million is the highest ever recorded. A noticeable spike in trading volumes which began in April suggests that Covid-19 and lockdown measures might have made peer to peer bitcoin trading more appealing.

Meanwhile, Latin America and the Asia Pacific are two regions with the next highest volumes. Both regions had about $13 million worth of bitcoins being traded.

As expected, Venezuela, which is grappling with record inflation levels, leads in Latin America with nearly $5 million worth of bitcoin traded.

Colombia is second with $3.4 million while crisis-hit Argentina is a distant third with just under $1 million worth of trades.

In the Asia Pacific, China and India are neck and neck with $4.5 million and $4.4 million respectively. For India, the figure represents a new all-time high.

What do you think about the growing peer-to-peer trading volumes? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Trading Tops $95 Million as Sub-Saharan Africa Records All Time High | Markets and Prices - Bitcoin News

The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers August 8th, 2020 – FX Empire

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

It was a mixed start to the day. Bitcoin rose to an early morning intraday high $11,900 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $11,914, Bitcoin slid to a late afternoon intraday low $11,326.

Bitcoin fell through the first major support level at $11,581 and the second major support level at $11,402.

Finding late support, however, Bitcoin broke back through the second major support level to end the day at $11,580.

The first major support level at $11,581 pinned Bitcoin back late in the day.

The near-term bullish trend remained intact, supported by the latest move through to $11,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend.

Across the rest of the majors, it was a bearish day for the majors on Friday.

Bitcoin Cash SV (-4.48%), Cardanos ADA (-3.93%), Ethereum (-3.93%), Litecoin (-3.10%), Stellars Lumen (-3.44%), and Tezos (-4.53%) led the way down.

Binance Coin (-1.85%), Bitcoin Cash ABC (-2.15%), EOS (-2.54%), Moneros XMR (-1.10%), Ripples XRP (-2.87%), and Trons TRX (-1.83%) saw relatively modest losses on the day.

In the current week, the crypto total market cap rose from a Monday low $323.88bn to a Thursday high $355.09bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $342.33bn.

Bitcoins dominance fell from a Monday high 62.46% to a Tuesday low 61.24%. At the time of writing, Bitcoins dominance stood at 62.69%.

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The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers August 8th, 2020 - FX Empire

Bitcoin Price Continues Rally, Positive Sentiment Is Off the Charts – Cointelegraph

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

In the past couple of weeks, the Bitcoin (BTC) price has resurged after months of apparent monetary stagnation. Since July 23, the value of a single Bitcoin has risen by around 20%. Not only that, after trading sideways since its supply squeeze in early May, the premier currency broke through its all-important $10,000 psychological threshold, thus leading many casual investors to once again jump back on the crypto hype train.

Bitcoins recent price hike has also resulted in a retail boom, with a whole host of trading platforms across the world reporting sky-high Bitcoin trading volumes. As a result of this bullish market activity, Joe DiPasquale, prominent crypto pundit and CEO of BitBull Capital, recently stated that this latest surge is once again building up an element of FOMO, or fear of missing out, among casual investors who believe they might be late to the crypto party.

Echoing a somewhat similar sentiment, Joshua Frank, co-founder and CEO of The Tie a provider of data aggregation tools commented to Cointelegraph that historically speaking, volatility has driven significant new waves of interest and investors into Bitcoin, particularly with the most recent run from $9,000 to $12,000. Frank outlined that the 30-day average number of Twitter users discussing Bitcoin has spiked from 24,000 to 30,000 over the last two weeks, adding:

Bitcoin hit its highest daily tweet volume level since June 26th 2019 in the wake of the Twitter scam on July 16th. While it isnt clear that the run-up had any correlation to the scam, we have seen in the past that, all else equal, the more users talking about Bitcoin the better the asset performs.

Denis Vinokourov, head of research at BeQuant, a crypto exchange and institutional brokerage service, told Cointelegraph that since volatility picked up, his firm has observed trade volumes jumping by about 40% from where daily summer averages were prior to this recent rally.

Cointelegraph also discussed the recent market action with Adam Vettese, market analyst at cryptocurrency trading and investment platform eToro. He pointed out that since crypto prices began rallying at the end of July, the number of crypto positions being opened increased by 115% versus the previous fortnight. Over the same time period, trading volume in crypto instruments also increased by 162%. The number of Bitcoin positions opened increased by 222% with a 421% rise for Ether (ETH) and 170% for XRP.

Christophe Michot, sales director at digital asset trading platform CrossTower also claimed that over the course of the past couple of weeks, his firm has observed a 219% increase in daily trading volume as well as a 66% rise in the number of daily average signups over the same time period.

Michot also highlighted that since the pullback in mid-March, the market as a whole has experienced a strong bullish reversal. For example, Bitcoin has regained over 210% and Ethereum bounced by 364% since the Black Thursday crash of March 11, 2020.

The crypto market rally has come on the heels of positive news such as the U.S. OCCs recent clarification permitting the custody of Bitcoin by banks as well as the announcement of another stimulus package to be issued by the Fed in the near future, which some experts believe will continue to devalue the U.S. dollar.

On July 12, Bitcoins long-term sentiment score a comparison of investor sentiment over the last 50 days vs. the prior 200 hit a new all-time high leading up to Bitcoins run at the end of the month. Similarly, the daily sentiment score represents a measure of how positive or negative conversations on Twitter have been about a particular coin over the last 24 hours vs. the previous 20 days.

The daily sentiment score of investors has remained positive (above 50) every day from July 20 to Aug. 1. Even after Bitcoin failed to surpass the $12,000 mark and retraced by $1,400, investor sentiment fell below 50 for only about 28 hours, alluding to the fact that investors have remained extremely positive on Bitcoin.

Frank told Cointelegraph that approximately 68% of all tweets discussing the long-term financial future of Bitcoin over the past month have been positive. Similarly, Michot added that according to CrossTowers media data, the market is in the early stages of a new bull run, adding: Another positive sentiment is coming from family offices and other traditional advisory firms. These firms are seeing increased demands by clients seeking exposure to the cryptocurrency markets.

Since the start of the recent crypto surge, there has been a spike in the use of stablecoins along with a clear increase in demand for other DeFi-related tokens. John Todaro, director of institutional research at TradeBlock, a trading platform for institutional investors, told Cointelegraph:

Stablecoin circulating supplies have increased substantially over the past 6 months, with Tether seeing around $10bn in deposits and USDC seeing over $1bn. This may seem small, but those deposits make Circle and Tether, to an extent, defacto banks with sizable customer deposits. $510 bn in customer deposits is equivalent to a small to midsize U.S. commercial bank.

Todaro added that while merchant adoption still remains limited for stablecoins, there is real demand for these assets in developing economies as well as those with political instability, such as in Latin America, parts of the Middle East, and to an extent, Hong Kong. He also noted that derivatives volumes have spiked recently (at Deribit, CME and others), but a large portion of that is tied to price action, as increased volatility almost always tends to drive increased trade volumes.

Vinokourov believes that the recent spell of low volatility and thin trading volumes has evolved into one of the busiest periods for digital assets in recent memory: Volumes on spot and derivatives venues spiked higher as Bitcoin traded over $11,000, and other large cap assets followed in lockstep. Vinokourov further opined:

Particular attention ought to be paid to the evolution of Ethereum volatility profile which, despite coming off recent highs, remains elevated relative to Bitcoin. This suggests more potential volatility for the second largest cryptocurrency.

Another aspect worth exploring is the relationship that may or may not exist between Bitcoins Fear and Greed Index and its price, and if the metric can suggest a possible price direction. Expounding his views on the matter, Todaro opined that the index is calculated based on a few variables that are, to an extent, affected by price, forcing the index to follow certain niche inputs such as the velocity of price gains, all-time high prices and price momentum, among other parameters.

For instance, if there is a large crash in the market, volatility will increase, and the index will conclude that the market has high fear. In doing so, the index ultimately follows the price. Additionally, the index captures Google trends, with high interest in positive crypto-related terms meaning high greed. Therefore, Todaro believes that the index can be used to make current and future investment decisions:

"While the price of Bitcoin isnt back to all-time highs, this was the fastest price gain over a 10-day period in its history, which would read extremely greedy, and so maybe it is time to sell and wait for a pullback to re-enter.

Another correlation worth exploring is the one between Bitcoin and the S&P 500. According to Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan, the previously high correlation between crypto-assets and the S&P 500 has now decreased:

We can clearly see earlier this year, where the correlation spiked up to 0.6 due to the multi-asset early-pandemic sell-off. By now, however, were once again below 0.2, which basically means that there is no correlation on a day-to-day basis anymore.

Furthermore, Greenspan noted that even a peak of 0.6 only represents a very loose correlation, adding, Many stocks have a very high correlation with each other, usually above 0.8 even if theyre in completely different industries, and many altcoins are similar.

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Bitcoin Price Continues Rally, Positive Sentiment Is Off the Charts - Cointelegraph

New Grayscale Ad: The History of Money in 30s & ‘Digital Currencies’ – Cryptonews

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

A snapshot of the new commercial.

Today, US-based major crypto asset management firm Grayscale launched its new national ad campaign in the US that aims to bring new crypto users by telling them the history of money in 30 seconds.

"The commercial is not your average financial services ad it is a wakeup call that people everywhere should seize what we feel is a once in a generation opportunity that digital currencies may present," the company said in a blog post.

The voiceover in the video clip does not mention any specific cryptocurrency, only saying that "it's time for digital currency" and showing a list of Grayscale's products such as Bitcoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Trust, and others.

The commercial can be seen on actual TV as well as across digital and social platforms.

Here's how it looks:

The company said it collaborated with commercial director Brennan Stasiewicz, who developed and produced the advertisement working with Bunker as well as Vested in the creation and execution of the new campaign.___

Learn more: Grayscale to Bring Crypto Ads to US Homes Amid Economic Crisis'Difficult to Ignore' Shift As Grayscale Buys More Bitcoin Than Miners Generate___

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New Grayscale Ad: The History of Money in 30s & 'Digital Currencies' - Cryptonews

First Mover: As Fed Nears Inflation Rubicon, Analysts See $50K Bitcoin in Play – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

The Federal Reserve appears ready to pursue yet another untestedstrategy that could ultimately boost inflation and possibly prices for bitcoin.

The Fedis preparing to effectively abandon its strategy of pre-emptively lifting interest rates to head off higher inflation,according to a new report in theWall Street Journal.

The shift signals an explicit willingness by the central bankto tolerate higher inflation, at a time when the spreading coronavirus continues to ravage the economy. TheU.S.unemployment rate stands at11%, a levelnot witnessed since the early 1940s until this year.

TheFeds extra loosening ofmonetary policycould help support prices for bitcoin, which many cryptocurrency investors speculate could serve as an effective hedge against inflation, similar to gold. Bitcoin prices have already soared 58% this year, beating silvers 36% andgolds 30%, not to mention the 2% gain in the Standard & Poors 500 Index of large stocks.

Bitcoin rose 1.5% on Monday to $11,338.

As more investors look to digital goldas an inflation hedge in an increasingly digitized world amidst unprecedented government money printing, the cryptocurrency research firm Messari wrote Monday, we know that it wont take much of an institutional allocation until $50,000 bitcoin is back on the table.

The Fedalready has taken monetary policy to a new level of extraordinary this year,pumpingnearly $3 trillion of freshly created money into financial markets earlier and pushing its total assets to about $7 trillion.A growing number of investorsin both digital-asset and traditional markets say theflood of dollars could whittle downthe U.S. currencys purchasing power.

The dollar index, a gauge of the the currencys strength in foreign exchange markets, fell 4% in July, thebiggest monthly dropsince 2010. And the Wall Street brokerage firm Jefferies now predicts that the dollar could fall as much as 15%, according to CNBC.

Bank of America analysts wrote Monday in a report that its becoming a popular trade to bet against the dollar, since investors are worried about the long-term impact of the rapid accumulation of U.S. debt for the U.S. dollars reserve-currency status.

As gold, silver, equities, and long bonds reach record high levels, and the U.S. dollar slumps, the king of cryptocurrenciesmay be back in the spotlight for the foreseeable future,Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer of the cryptocurrency-focused firm Arca, wrote Monday in a weekly blog.

Under the Feds policy shift, according to the Wall Street Journal, the central bankwould allow inflation to drift above a 2% target before raising rates. The idea is that above-target inflation would offsetperiods where consumer price increases were previously below the mark, as has been the case for most of the past two decades.

The goal is not to increase inflation per se, but to provide assurances to investors that interest rates would remain lowfor a long time, according to the paper. Such accommodation could help to assure a faster economic recovery.

Yet, higher inflation could further distortalready uncanny signals emanating from bond markets, further undermining the dollars attractiveness. Nominal yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds are currently around 0.6%, close to historic lows. Once inflation is factored in, thereal yields equate tonegative 1%.

Assuming nominal yields dont rise much anytime soon, an inflation rate above 2% would cause bond investors to fall even further behind.

Negative real rates imply a loss in purchasing power from holding U.S. Treasuries,the ideal conditions for non-income producing assets such as gold and silver but also crypto assets like bitcoin, the analysis firm Delphi Digital wrote on July 31.

Theres some risk that a fresh panic in markets might prompt investors to rush back into dollars, which couldmeana redux of the March crash inbitcoin prices.

But according to an Aug. 2 Bloomberg News story, the next risk-off scenario might not see investors rushing into dollars, due to theflood of liquidity unleashed by the Fed.

Any haven rally is likely to be shallower than in previous years, according to the report, while the possible extent of depreciation remains the same.

Everything hinges on the dollar right now, Mati Greenspan, founder of the cryptocurrency-focused research firm Quantum Economics, wrote Monday in an emailto subscribers.

Tweet of the day

Bitcoin watch

BTC: Price: $11,186 (BPI) | 24-Hr High: $11,480 | 24-Hr Low: $11,164

Trend:Bitcoin is again struggling to find a foothold above $11,400 amid signs of buyer exhaustion on the three-day chart.

The number one cryptocurrency by market value is currently trading near $11,290, having hit a high of $11,424 during the Asian trading hours. Tuesday is the second straight day of bull failure above $11,400. Prices hit a high of $11,480 on Monday, but printed a UTC close below $11,240.

Essentially, bitcoins recovery rally from Sundays flash crash low of $10,659 has stalled with the area above $11,400 acting as stiff resistance.

The bulls need quick progress now, or the focus would shift to the uptrend exhaustion signaled by a major doji candle seen on the three-day chart.

A doji occurs when prices see two-way business during a specific period. While it is usually considered a sign of indecision, in this case, it has appeared following a notable rally to 11-month highs above $12,100. As such, it represents buyer fatigue.

The three-day charts relative strength index (RSI) is also reporting overbought conditions with an above-70 reading. Thus, a pullback to $11,000 cant be ruled out. A move below that psychological support would expose the former hurdle-turned-support at $10,500 (February high).

Alternatively, a sustained move above $11,400 on the hourly chart would strengthen the case for a re-test of recent highs above $12,000.

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First Mover: As Fed Nears Inflation Rubicon, Analysts See $50K Bitcoin in Play - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers August 5th, 2020 – Yahoo Finance

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Bitcoin, BTC to USD, fell by 0.38% on Tuesday. Partially reversing a 1.52% gain from Monday, Bitcoin ended the day at $11,184.0.

It was a bullish start to the day. Bitcoin rose to an early morning intraday high $11,396.0 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $11,474, Bitcoin slid to an early afternoon intraday low $11,003.0.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $10,961, Bitcoin briefly revisited $11,260 levels before falling back into the red.

Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day for the majors on Tuesday.

Tezos rallied by 6.32% to lead the way.

Binance Coin (+0.95%), Bitcoin Cash SC (+5.76%), Cardanos ADA (+4.42%), Ethereum (+0.92%), Stellars Lumen (+5.51%), and Trons TRX (+2.35%) also found support.

It was a bearish day for the rest of the majors, however.

Bitcoin Cash ABC (-2.10%), EOS (-0.53%), Litecoin (-1.54%), Moneros XMR (-2.32%), and Ripples XRP (-2.90%) saw red on the day.

At the start of the week, the crypto total market cap rose from a Monday low $323.12bn to a Monday high $345.20bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $333.57bn.

Bitcoins dominance fell from a Monday high 62.43% to a Tuesday low 61.21%. At the time of writing, Bitcoins dominance stood at 61.74%.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down by 0.26% to $11,155.0. A bearish start to the day saw Bitcoin fall from an early morning high $11,213.1 to a low $11.085.0.

Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day. Bitcoin Cash SV bucked the trend early on, rising by 0.03%.

It was a bearish start for the rest of the majors, however. At the time of writing, Tezos (-2.93%), Stellars Lumen (-2.86%), and Ripples XRP (-2.64%) led the way down.

Bitcoin would need to move through the $11,194 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $11,386.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break back through to $11,300 levels.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and Tuesdays high $11,396 would likely cap any upside.

In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin could eye the second major resistance level at $11,587. Expect plenty of resistance at $11,500, however.

Failure to move through the $11,194 pivot level would bring the first major support level at $10,993 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should steer clear of sub-$10,800 levels on the day. The second major support level at $10,801 should limit any downside.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

Public Fascination with Bitcoin Price is Slowing the Adoption of Bitcoin – hackernoon.com

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

@MarkHelfmanMark

Author, Consensusland: A Cryptocurrency Utopia. Editor, Crypto is Easy newsletter. #1 writer, Medium

Few people ask me about the social, political,and economicimpactof cryptographically-secure,time-stamped distributedledgers.

(Which stinks, I wrote a book,Consensusland, about that.)

No, most people ask should I buy bitcoin?

They seem interested in whether they can make money from its price going up.

So youd think the facts would convince them to buy bitcoin, right?

After all, its price has tripled over the past 18 months. Its up more than 50% so far this year and almost never finishes a year lower than where it started. Institutional investment in bitcoin funds grew more in the first half of this year than all previous years combined.

Nope, not enough.

Facts and history will not convince people to buy bitcoin. It will take something much more powerful.

Fortunately, that something is here.

Investors dont have any good ways to make money anymore. Traditional investments involve more risk and lower returns than ever before.

Thanks to the pandemic, you cant invest in the real economy. Nobodys making movies or going on cruises. Nobodys going to the theatre or sporting events. Nobody knows when (or if) building starts and big infrastructure projects will get off the ground.

Thanks to central banks, you cant invest in equities, cash, or debt, either.

The stock markets are full of businesses that have no profits or customers. Many corporations have stopped buying back shares. High P/E ratios suggest poor future returns and nobody knows whether the economy will rebound. For many companies, profits have dried up, making it hard for them to pay dividends.

(People like to say bitcoin doesnt offer dividends, but what happens when stocks dont either?)

Most major economies offer negative-yielding debt and US treasury notes rates remain effectively zero. Corporate debt is almost worthless, outside of a few bankrupt businesses waiting for somebody to take them over. Savings accounts pay maybe 1% if youre lucky.

Private equity, perhaps?

Perhaps not. Start-ups are strapped for cash and struggling to conquer COVID-19.

You cant even invest in banks anymore. European banks are barely solvent and the U.S. Federal Reserve stopped its banks from buying back stock and raising dividends, two of the biggest incentives for investors.

China and U.S. trade relations have fallen apart, so you cant invest in China. The E.U. might fall apart, so you cant invest in Europe.

As an investor, you want to find ways to maximize opportunities and minimize risks. In this new investment landscape, that means making unusual choices.

For example, money has started flowing to emerging markets, despite an ever-growing list of countries defaulting or restructuring their debt.

Why do investors feel compelled to buy investments in countries that probably will never repay them?

As always, you have speculators looking to flip bonds, but mostly, its just investors looking for yields. Unlike junk bonds and penny stocks, emerging markets have special financial instruments that protect investors from some of the downside risks.

Plus, unlike corporations, these countries can raise taxes when they fall short on payments. Meanwhile, massive QE suggests the value of the dollar will fall, making emerging market debts easier to repay over time.

Why buy junk bonds and penny stocks when you can get a higher return with less risk in emerging market debt?

This problem exists because of the so-called liquidity traplots of money, little yield, and people too scared to spend.

When you have no incentive to invest, you dont invest. Why give up cash and property when your expected risk-adjusted returns are basically zero?

Some people think that this liquidity trap has created a massive everything bubble where equities, businesses, bonds, property, and everything else gets pumped up beyond their real values.

Surelysomethinghas to give, right?

Economist Robert Shiller won a Nobel prize for his work on assets and how assets acquire value. He discovered that price is a function of peoples actions and behaviors. Markets are not efficient. Asset bubbles only pop when people stop believing in them.

Shiller would say its more nuanced than that, which is true, but Im summarizing decades of research into a paragraph. Thats the easiest way I can explain it.

In other words, the bubble may never popif its even a bubble in the first place. It will just persist, skewing peoples economic decisions, until people decide to change their behaviors.

Those behaviors will have to change eventually.

Money tends to flow into the hands of whoever can do the most with it. As asset prices rise, investments no longer produce as much yield as they did before. You need to spend more to make less.

At some point, investors will have to find better options. With $3 trillion sitting in U.S. bank accounts, $22 trillion in U.S.-registered investment funds, and at least $40 trillion in private wealth held offshore, plus trillions more in cash and real estate, theres a lot of money searching for yields.

Investors know this.

Recently, banks and large investment institutions got U.S. regulators to allow them to buy private equity, a market filled with small businesses that have never turned a profit.

At what point do money managers feel compelled to put some of their clients money into bitcoin, the best performing asset of the past ten years? Or, place a small wager on a token sale, like Harvard did?

Bitcoins price. It always seems to crash.

As long as bitcoins price always seems to crash, people will not put their money into it. We just need the price to go up long enough for people to start believing it will continue to go up.

At that point, everything will change. People will start to think they can make money from cryptocurrency. Theyll think its a better deal than cash, bonds, and stocks.

The search for yield is a very powerful motivator.

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Public Fascination with Bitcoin Price is Slowing the Adoption of Bitcoin - hackernoon.com

Government-Owned Swiss Bank Launching Crypto Trading and Custody Services | News – Bitcoin News

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Basler Kantonalbank (BKB), Switzerlands eighth-largest bank, is getting into crypto through its subsidiary, Bank Cler. Owned by the Swiss Canton of Basel-City, BKB has total assets of approximately $49 billion.

Local Swiss government-owned commercial bank BKB will be offering cryptocurrency services through Bank Cler, the bank told Citywire Switzerland Monday. Founded in 1899, Basler Kantonalbank, also called Basel Cantonal Bank, offers retail, corporate and private banking services. It has total assets of approximately $49 billion.

Bank Cler said that its crypto push is in response to demand among its younger clientele, who wish to invest in crypto assets. Bank Clers spokesperson, Natalie Waltmann, told the news outlet:

We will launch an offering for the trading and custody of digital assets next year.

The bank has hired Alain Kunz to lead its digital asset business. His Linkedin page shows that he is the CEO of fintech company Polarlab and founder of Tokensuisse.

S&P Global Ratings gave BKB a stable outlook in December last year, which reflected on the banks owner and grantor, the Swiss Canton of Basel-City. We expect BKB to remain the eighth-largest bank in Switzerland, with total assets of CHF45 billion [$49 billion] as of June 30, 2019 consolidating its subsidiary Bank Cler, which had total assets of CHF18 billion at the same date, S&P Globals analysts wrote.

BKB and Bank Cler hold separate banking licenses in Switzerland. Waltmann further told the news outlet that BKB is also interested in cryptocurrencies. Other banks in Switzerland that have announced their cryptocurrency services include Seba, which launched a range of crypto services in November last year, Sygnum, Julius Baer, and Falcon. Maerki Baumann announced in June the launch of its trading and custody services, supporting bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, litecoin, and XRP initially.

What do you think about Bank Cler launching crypto services? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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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Government-Owned Swiss Bank Launching Crypto Trading and Custody Services | News - Bitcoin News

Fixing This Bitcoin-Killing Bug Will (Eventually) Require a Hard Fork – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

Most of us will be dead by then.

Projected to happen in the year 2106, Bitcoin will suddenly stop running based on the code its network of users is running today. Users wont be able to send bitcoin to others; miners securing Bitcoins global network will no longer serve a purpose. Bitcoin will just stop.

The good news is the bug is easy to fix. Its a problem Bitcoin developers have known about for years since at least 2012, maybe earlier, according to Bitcoin Core contributor Pieter Wuille. To some developers, the Bitcoin bug potentially sheds light on the limits to Bitcoins decentralization, since the community will all need to join together to fix it.

This is a consensus change but a very simple one, and I hope one that will be non-controversial, Blockstream co-founder and engineer Pieter Wuille told CoinDesk in an email. We have about 80 years left to address [the bug]. Who knows what might happen in such a time frame?

The bug is simple. Bitcoin blocks are the containers within which transactions are stored. Each Bitcoin block has a number tracking how many blocks come before it. But because of a limitation revolving around how block height numbers are stored, Bitcoin will run out of block numbers after block number 5101541.

In other words, at a block height roughly 86 years into the future, it will be impossible to produce any new blocks.

Hard fork

The change requires whats known as a hard fork, the most demanding method of making a change to a blockchain. Hard forks are tricky in that theyre not backwards-compatible, they require everyone running a Bitcoin node or miner to upgrade their software. Anyone who doesnt do so will be left behind on a stonewalled version of Bitcoin thats incapable of any activity.

While some blockchains, such as Ethereum, execute hard forks regularly, a hard fork isnt the happiest word in Bitcoin land.

The last time a Bitcoin hard fork was attempted, it attracted vicious debate. Several big Bitcoin businesses and miners rallied around a hard fork called Segwit2x in 2017. The problem is that far from everyone in the community agreed with the change, so many saw it as an attempt to force the upgrade on the community, which doesnt exactly jibe with Bitcoins ethos of leaderlessness.

Because of this diary entry in Bitcoins history, when many people in Bitcoin hear the phrase hard fork, they think of a centralized power trying to impose a change.

However, this bug fix hard fork comes in stark contrast to Bitcoins most famous hard fork attempt. Rather than attracting debate, the community and developers will most likely agree it is a change that needs to be made.

After all, anyone who chooses not to upgrade their software will eventually be running a dead Bitcoin chain.

Protocol 'ossification'

The bug fix is unlikely to be a controversial hard fork change. But that doesnt make the issue any less interesting.

In conversation with CoinDesk, Gustavo J. Flores, head of Product and Research at Bitcoin tech startup Veriphi, argued it brings to light a limit to Bitcoins protocol ossification.

Bringing to mind squishy cartilage hardening into bone over time, protocol ossification is the idea that Bitcoin will grow harder to change as it matures. The first several years of Bitcoins life, the protocol was immature and there were far fewer users and developers tinkering with the software, so the technology was easier to change. But Bitcoin may be hardening into a bony specimen that will be very difficult to change.

Protocol ossification means a certain point in time, some say it should be now, where Bitcoin doesnt change anymore. The rules are set such as a countrys constitution would be set, unchangeable, since it would be too decentralized to coordinate any change, Flores told CoinDesk.

Just a dream?

The reason many Bitcoin technologists think ossification is a good quality is because it is a sign the system is actually as decentralized as the community wants it to be, ensuring the system is really free from one person or entity stepping in and pushing through a change that isnt good.

Flores added that protocol ossification helps to prevent future tentatives that would resemble Segwit2x, where some actors try to force an upgrade because theyre known developers or big businesses, and this ends up hurting Bitcoin because its either untested code or cryptography, or because the change removes the core value proposition or would decrease decentralization which would hurt the core value proposition over the long term.

However, this bug makes it desirable to be able to coordinate a hard fork to fix it, since we all want Bitcoin to be able to survive that deadline, Flores said.

It basically brings us back to reality, where the dream of protocol ossification (which makes us achieve ultimate decentralization) is a further than expected and it might be just a dream, which we can get closer over time, but we cant ever complete it since emergencies such as this, might present themselves, Flores told CoinDesk.

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Fixing This Bitcoin-Killing Bug Will (Eventually) Require a Hard Fork - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Bitcoin may peak in 2022-2023, but it can still go wrong – AMBCrypto English

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Danzig

We are currently part of an unusual Bitcoin rally. Unlike Ethereum, Bitcoin hasnt surpassed its highs from 2019. It hasnt even come close, to be fair. However, many in the community remain bullish about Bitcoin only because it is not dropping from its yearly-high levels. As simple as that. At press time, the worlds largest cryptocurrency was trading at a price of $11,896.

Now, in the past, such credentials have rarely mattered for many times, we have witnessed a stark decline when Bitcoin has consolidated at a range for more than 48 hours. However, the present bully cycle might be different from its previous endeavors, hinting at a hypothesis that Bitcoin is inevitably changing.

Willy Woo, the creator of the Woo Bull charts and avid Bitcoin supporter, recently explained that Bitcoins 4-year bullish/bearish cycle is usually triggered by selling pressure reduction created every 4 years by the halving event.

He argued that the Bitcoin halving almost creates an impulse which leads to resonance, following which, the market starts falling in place like properly aligned dominoes.

However, Woo was quick to highlight that the impact of this impulse varies from cycle to cycle, so the performance of previous cycles cannot be taken as an example for the future market. He added,

As the sell pressure reduction from each halvening cycle reduces, the impulse has less strength. Eventually the scale of halvenings become insignificant, Bitcoins 4 year cycle will start to transition into the resonance of traditional markets (~10 years).

Do BTC ROI cycles vary over time?

Lets look into an analysis done by AMBCrypto a few months back.

According to the calculations based on a set of assumptions, it was found that while the bull cycle over time has lasted for a longer time, the ROI has steadily fallen. From the attached table, we can observe that the boom-bust cycle has become more stretched over time and the ROIs have decreased from cycle to cycle, as mentioned by Woo in his aforementioned tweet.

Now, it has been estimated that the 4th cycle, which is the ongoing one after the Bitcoin halving on 11 May, would be carried out for 1758.9 days and Bitcoin would eventually peak at $118,000 on 22 August 2022. However, as mentioned previously, the calculations have been done under a set of assumptions. Hence, the aforementioned predictions are not set in stone. They will possibly be in the same ballpark though.

Is Bitcoins cycle reacting to Black Swan events?

After Bitcoins implosion on 13 March 2020? Absolutely.

Although Bitcoins cyclic pattern has attained a certain level of maturity, the fact that Bitcoin strongly mirrored stocks during the crash in March is a glaring indication of the fact that the crypto-asset is not there yet.

The crash of March 2020 was the first real adversity faced by Bitcoin, an episode that highlighted its flaws that it is not completely uncorrelated to the traditional market. And of course, it cannot be, especially considering the fact that its total market cap is just a little over $200 billion.

Hence, in spite of behavioral maturity, Bitcoin is probably still vulnerable to movement in the traditional asset class, and that is an undeniable truth at the moment.

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Bitcoin may peak in 2022-2023, but it can still go wrong - AMBCrypto English

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