Bitcoin price finds strong support against key Ichimoku levels, but buyers have seemingly dried up. Ethreum price may be positioning for a retest of the Tenkan-Sen or Kijun-Sen. Ripple is likely to outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum if it can find buyers.

Bitcoin price action shows the current daily candlestick could be developing a second consecutive inside bar. If that occurs, then a rare but powerful three-bar candlestick pattern known as a Bullish Squeeze Alert will be confirmed. According to Michael C. Thomsett, author of the Bloomberg Visual Guide to Candlestick Charting, the Bullish Squeeze Alert is one of the strongest reversal patterns in Japanese candlestick charting. One of the critical rules to this pattern is that the first bar is black/red, but the following two candlesticks can be of any color. If confirmed, the Bullish Squeeze Alert may presage Bitcoins rise to the $77,000 value area.

BTC/USD Daily Ichimoku Chart

Any continued bullish momentum will be invalidated if Bitcoin price closes below the October 26th swing low of $58,317.

Ethereum price did not experience much buying follow through after hitting new all-time highs on Wednesday. But it hasnt sold off either. The closest support level acting as support is the 61.8% Fibonacci expansion at $4,493. However, Ethereum may consider closing the gap between the bodies of the last three candlesticks and the Tenkan-Sen. If that were to occur, then Ethereum would dip down to $4,280. Absent any buying at the Tenkan-Sen; sellers may push Ethereum to the Kijun-Sen as $4,000. That is the final Ichimoku support level before Senkou Span B at $3,350.

ETH/USD Daily Ichimoku Chart

While a sell-off appears unlikely given the current bullish sentiment and inflows into the altcoin market, the dangers to the downside remain. But any new all-time high could likely invalidate any deeper retracement. This is especially true of Ethereum holds the $4,500 and develops a new floor.

XRP price may surprise the cryptocurrency market this weekend. Out of the three cryptocurrencies discussed in this article, Ripple is best positioned to experience a massive rally. However, to do that, it must remain above the Cloud, and the Chikou Span must remain above the candlesticks and in open space. Ripple must close at or above $1.15 to keep the Chikou Span above the candlesticks.

XRP recently broke out above the Cloud on Wednesday with a substantial 7% gain. Since then, XRP price has traded lower. The current price action is likely just a retest of the breakout a necessary move to begin any new uptrend. If Ripple finds buyers to maintain support at $1.15, market participants may see new two-month highs and a probable push towards $1.50.

XRP/USD Daily Ichimoku Chart

If Ripple were to face a sell-off and a daily below $0.99, that might be the death knell for any hope of bullish momentum in 2020.

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Top 3 Price Prediction Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple: Cryptos stagnate but one readies to explode - FXStreet

At nearly 400,000 people, the Navajo Nation is one of the largest Native American tribes in the United States. Its also one of the most impoverished, with poverty statistics closer to the worlds least developed countries than its neighboring cities of Phoenix, Arizona, or Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Nearly 50% of Navajo are unemployed, 40% dont have running water, 32% live without electricity, and over 30% live below the poverty line, according to an April 2021 testimony before Congress.

Generational poverty for Native American populations has been the focus of an abundance of government research and spending. Most solutions for the issues center on injecting federal dollars into local economies through subsidies, special business licenses and community work.

What these solutions dont propose, however, is giving tools for lasting individual empowerment to these indigienous populations. Indeed, the Navajo Nation is one of the most visible representations of living in a split monetary system: One with access to American capital, but lack of formal control over capital deployment.

But a silent financial revolution is occurring on Navajo land, and its fueled by the growth of a new industry: Bitcoin mining.

A Navajo person cant own the land

The broken Navajo economy is the product of numerous treaties signed between the United States government and tribes during Americas westward expansion. Most treaties abdicated direct control of tribal people to the tribe itself, including government functions, taxation rights and law enforcement. But two major responsibilities remained in U.S. hands: trusteeship of land and control of the currency.

These stipulations have had predictable financial consequences.

As the trustee, the federal government leases Indian land out for uses such as farming, logging or mining. The U.S. government also manages the money accrued from such activities on behalf of the nations. Decades of mismanagement culminated in 2012 with a $492 million settlement between 17 tribes and the Obama administration.

Yet, the leasing system itself continues to hamper progress against poverty.

The federal government took the land rights away from the Navajo people, Navajo Tribal Authority President Walter Hasse told Compass Mining in an interview. So a Navajo person cant own the land that their home is on. If you dont own the land, then how do you borrow the money to build a house on the land?

Tribal sovereignty does not extend to currency either. As U.S. citizens, Native Americans are taxed in dollars. And while it's difficult to say the dollar has been a net negative for tribes, restrictions around how money can be used within the incumbent financial system could be considered one.

Called the buckskin curtain, Indian tribes have not only been slow to adopt financial tools, but impeded from accessing them due to national sovereignty. Only 32 Native American financial institutions are in existence today, constituting the smallest percentage of minority-owned deposit institutions compared. Among other concerns, tribes worry accepting a bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) would interfere with their national status.

For example, where would a banking dispute be heard in court? In reservation courtrooms or in Washington? And what evidence do Native American tribes have that due process would be followed?

These questions have pushed tribes outside of the U.S. financial system by either being unable or unwilling to operate within the commercial banking sector.

Employment and currency only show half of the picture of economic damage though.

During the 20th century, energy firms outside of Navajo land signed contracts with the Navajo Nation to source and extract its abundant energy resources, especially coal and uranium.

That coal was used to power cities from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Los Angeles, California illuminating, watering and powering a once sparsely populated portion of the United States. Years later, the power plants are coming down, leaving the Navajo little to show for leasing their land to outsiders, minus poisoned groundwater and abandoned coal pits.

Over 4 million tons of uranium were also mined on Navajo land from 1950 onward. While it fed Uncle Sams Cold War appetite, Navajo uranium would have devastatingly-long terminal effects on the indiginous people and their land. Some 27% of Navajo have heightened levels of uranium in their bodies, according to a 2016 study, while over 500 open-air uranium mines remain in various stages of cleanup.

Before Bitcoin, mining has carried very negative connotations for most of the Navajo Nation.

In 2017, a small Canadian firm named West Block approached the Navajo about tapping Navajo energy for a Bitcoin mine on Navajo land.

Currently using 8 megawatts (MW), the new mine is already in the process of doubling its size. Thats equivalent to about 3,000 machines of various types powering and protecting the Bitcoin network using Navajo energy.

But its not just about the machines. Its about the output of those machines in the context of a people group whove gone without many of the benefits the nominal American enjoys.

For example, the facility currently employs two full-time employees. With the expansion, that number will grow to eleven. The money created from the mine will then circulate into the local economy. It may seem insignificant now, but mining bitcoin on Navajo land is a very real source of future Navajo wealth, employment, and economic recovery.

The Navajo mines also represent the Navajo Nation creating wealth for themselves with their energy. Bitcoin mining brings demand for energy to wherever the energy source is. Navajo energy now has a non-stop and quickly-growing demand brought to their land with the profits paid to the Navajo Nation.

Lastly, the Navajo Bitcoin mines represent financial inclusion. Bitcoin mining is the first small step for broad bitcoin adoption by the Navajo Nation. Opting into a free and open-internet money protocol with a physical presence among the Navajo has unlimited potential for economic growth and wealth creation.

This is a guest post by William Foxley. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

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Why The Navajo Are Mining Bitcoin - Bitcoin Magazine

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It's been a good week for bitcoin, and it just got even better.

With the first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund debuting on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, the cryptocurrency was trading at more than $66,000 on Wednesday.

That's a record: the highest the digital coin has ever gone before was in April, at $64,899.

As a result, temptations to buy bitcoin may be growing, too.

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Before you do, though, here are some useful things to consider, according to experts.

Stories of bitcoin millionaires. The fact that the digital coin's value went from essentially nothing to top $64,000 in under a decade.

Hearing this, of course that makes many people have a fear of missing out, or "FOMO."

Investors often fall prey to the social bias of "herding," said Kent Baker, a finance professor at American University. In other words: They do what the crowd does, believing that everyone else must know more than they do and that there's safety in numbers.

"Generally, such investors are wrong on both counts," Baker said.

In reality, the other people in the crowd are putting the same blind faith in everyone else, with just as little to back it up.

Trying to understand a digital asset's fundamental valuation is "very tricky," said Bruce Mizrach, an economics professor at Rutgers University's School of Arts and Sciences.

With most stocks, he said, you can at least get a price-earnings ratio, which tells you what investors are willing to pay for a company for every dollar of its earnings. That figure can help you determine if a company is over- or undervalued.

You're more in the dark with bitcoin.

By the time most individual investors get into a rising investment, it's often too late.

Kent Baker

finance professor at American University

"The rise in the cryptocurrencies is reminiscent of the early stages of the internet bubble, with investors trying to evaluate stocks without earnings," Mizrach said.

Most investors can explain what a bubble is: It's what happens when a good's price far exceeds its real value. And many of those considering buying bitcoin probably suspect that it's largely speculation and hype that's driven the price so high.

But people buy assets even when they know they're overvalued, "because they expect prices to go even higher," Mizrach said.

And, he said, "they all believe that they can exit before the bubble crashes."

Just remember: that's what everyone else is thinking.

"By the time most individual investors get into a rising investment, it's often too late," Baker said.

All that being said, investors would be mistaken to ignore the rise of cryptocurrencies, said Douglas Boneparth, certified financial planner and president of Bone Fide Wealth in New York.

"It's definitely a bad idea to stick your head in the sand and assume this is nothing," Boneparth said. "The reality here is you're watching an entire decentralized financial system being built before your eyes."

He recommends people educate themselves as much as possible on the technology, and then they can determine if they should be invested in digital currencies and if so, how much.

For many, the standard advice from financial experts is not to put more than 1% to 5% of your money into the assets will hold true. Meanwhile, others may find their conviction in the innovation and tolerance for risk allows for more.

Have you recently bought bitcoin for the first time? If you'd be willing to share your experience getting into cryptocurrencies for an upcoming story, please email me at annie.nova@nbcuni.com

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As bitcoin soars in value again, here's what to think about before you buy - CNBC

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The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzingas in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

You dont have to be an aficionado of the financial markets to know that cryptocurrency is booming.

As Bitcoin breaks the $60,000 mark, millions of crypto miners are reaping the rewards of their labor, and millions of others are joining the chase.

One such entrant is OLB Group (NASDAQ: OLB). Joining the likes of Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA), Bit Digital (NASDAQ: BTBT), Hut 8 Mining Corp. (NASDAQ: HUT), Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT) and Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ: CAN), OLB Group is developing a state-of-the-art, mining-machine line to capitalize on the crypto surge.

But the clock is ticking. According to Blockchain.com, 18.84 million Bitcoins have already been mined, and crypto miners are already diversifying into smaller coins like Cardano (ADA), Monero (XMR), Ravencoin (RVN) and Doge (DOGE).

For crypto miners, the added competition and the diminishing supply only intensify the need to create as efficient a mining system as possible.

And here is where OLB Group has an edge.

What Makes a Good Mining Machine?

The efficiency of mining machines can be summarized through 3 important characteristics: hash rate, power consumption and durability.

A higher hash rate means your computer can take more guesses per second than its competitors, making it more likely that it will find the mathematical solution needed to successfully mine a cryptocurrency.

The ideal mining machine has a high hash rate, a low power consumption (this helps reduce the electricity bill) and good durability.

Gaining a Competitive Advantage

The DragonMint T1 is as ideal as it gets in this market. With a rumored development cost of $30 million, the mining machine has a speed of 16 terahashes per second (TH/s) and a power consumption of 1,480 watts (W).

According to BitDegree, the 2 closest competitors, AntMiner T9 and M3X, can only muster 10.5TH/s and 13TH/s. And its worth noting that the M3Xs power consumption is 600W higher than the DragonMint1.

Story continues

OLB Group is looking to use such state-of-the-art hardware in its newest crypto mining project. Equipped with the right technology, OLB Group will be able to capture cryptocurrency faster and cheaper than competitors.

Moreover, a brand-new, well-ventilated and properly managed farm of cryptocurrency miners can help reduce costs that older participants are less capable of diverting. The cruxes of older systems, such as viruses, overheating and equipment malfunction, bear much less an influence on these newer and more advanced technologies.

Is There Still Time?

The trajectory of cryptocurrency has been spectacular. Since 2017, Bitcoin has grown 6,500% and has been the best-performing asset class for 2 years straight. Currently sitting at all-time highs, many believe that the cryptocurrency run is far from over.

No one can know with certainty where the currency will go, but what you can know are the players suited to take advantage of the ride.

OLB Group is one of those players, and it looks like its just getting started.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzingas in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.

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Some Are Betting on State-of-the-Art Mining Machines as Bitcoin (BTC) Breaks New Price Ground - Yahoo Finance